Unconfirmed reports emerged late on Friday that operatives of the DSS had arrested the suspended Emefiele.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Department of State Services (DSS) on Saturday said the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, is not in its custody.
The agency made this known via Twitter.
The tweet read, “Currently, Emefiele is not with the DSS.”
President Bola Tinubu, on Friday, suspended Emefiele from office with immediate effect.
Unconfirmed reports emerged immediately that operatives of the DSS had arrested the suspended Emefiele.
A statement by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Willie Bassey said, “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect.”
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Bassey added that Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate) pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.
Last December, DSS sought an ex parte order from the Federal High Court in Abuja to arrest Emefiele over allegations of “acts of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension.”
But Justice J. T. Tsoho declined to grant the application.
The judge said, “In the light of the foregoing reasons, I decline to grant this application ex parte. If the applicant believes that the evidence available to it so far is sufficient, then it can as well arrest and detain the applicant, even without the order of the court. If however the applicant desires to still pursue this application, then it should place the respondent on notice considering the sensitive public office that he occupies.”
