Investigators and DSS Interrogate CBN Deputy Govs, Emefiele’s Driver and Others

No fewer than 20 persons with links to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its immediate past governor, Godwin Emefiele, have so far been questioned by the special investigators appointed by President Bola Tinubu to probe the apex bank.

Among those interrogated were the four deputy governors of the apex bank, some directors and Emefiele’s driver.

According to one of the sources, the drivers were interviewed because “they were the ones who carried the big men around.”

The sources added that  “Many directors, especially the ones directly under the deputy governors, were interviewed.

The anonymous source noted that they have also invited officials of the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) and those in charge of all those intervention programmes.

Some officials of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB), Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS), were similarly summoned.

The special investigators paid a quiet visit to the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL Plc) on Friday in furtherance of their assignment.

Sources also said Shuaib Ahmed, the Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), and his deputy, Iheanyi Anyahara, were invited to appear before the panel in connection with the preparation of the CBN audited financial statements from 2016 to 2022.

The special investigator’s invitation may also be extended to retired directors.

President Tinubu, in a July 28, 2023 letter, appointed Obaze, the founding Executive Secretary of the FRC, to probe the activities of the apex bank and its related entities.

He is looking into the books of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Ltd (NNPCL), the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and other government business entities, which the President, in the letter he personally signed, said was in continuation of government’s anti-corruption fight.