Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, has reportedly identified the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, as an accomplice in the Naira redesign crisis that rocked the country some months ago, SaharaReporters reported Thursday.
According to the online newspaper, it was learnt that Emefiele who is being detained by the country’s secret police, the Department of State Services, was the reason why the embattled EFCC chairman was also invited and detained.
The DSS invited Bawa to its headquarters at about 9:02 pm on Wednesday.
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He was thereafter grilled by the operatives of the secret police.
This comes hours after he was suspended indefinitely by President Bola Tinubu.
Bawa’s invitation and grilling by the DSS came days after Emefiele was arrested and flown from Lagos to Abuja to also face interrogations over alleged corruption and abuse of office.
It was gathered that Emefiele and Bawa – both undergoing interrogation – were being quizzed on sundry issues including the Naira redesign crisis.
On November 23, 2022, then-President Muhammadu Buhari alongside Emefiele unveiled new naira notes in denominations of N200, N500 and N1,000. Emefiele insisted that the old notes would cease to be legal tender from January 31, 2023.
Addressing journalists after the event, Emefiele insisted that the move was not targeted at anyone as there were speculations that the move was pushed by the cabal in the Presidency and targeted at preventing Tinubu, then-presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress from winning the February 25, 2023 election.
The policy caused Nigerians untold hardship due to the scarcity of naira notes with the CBN unable to meet the demand for new notes. The policy led to a cash crisis and long queues at banks and ATMs.
“Emefiele who is currently cooling his feet in the cell of the DSS is the reason why the EFCC chairman has been detained overnight. Emefiele who is cooperating with the DSS claimed that Bawa was the one who raised a memo to former President Muhammadu Buhari, asking that the Naira should be redesigned to stem money laundering during the 2023 election,” a top source revealed.
Tinubu indefinitely suspended Bawa from office on Wednesday, saying it would allow for a thorough investigation into his conduct while in office following “weighty allegations ” of abuse of office against him.
This was contained in a statement issued by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, on Wednesday.
In February and March, Nigerians were subjected to extreme difficulty with the Naira redesign and cashless policy due to the scarcity of the new Naira notes.
To make matters worse, Emefiele had earlier refused to heed a Supreme Court ruling which made the old notes legal tender till December 31, before former President Buhari distanced himself from the disobedience to the court order.
(Saharareporters)
