“This is the only country in the world where a Central Bank Governor can have the backing of the president and still be on the run,” Shehu Sani, a former senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, wrote on Tuesday.

The central bank governor Sani is referring to here is Godwin Emefiele, Nigeria’s apex bank head.

Emefiele has been at the centre of a number of controversies in the last few months of his central bank governing.

FIJ highlights four of the controversies.

HE WANTED TO BE PRESIDENT

On May 5, 2022, Emefiele asked a federal high court to rule in favour of his eligibility to contest in the 2023 presidential election. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) chief’s request was contained in suit FHC/ABJ/CS/610/2022.

Whether a CBN governor could participate in partisan politics became the question of the day.

On May 6, 2022, the Socio-Economic Responsibility and Accountability Project (SERAP) cited reports that Emefiele paid N100 million for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential nomination form. SERAP asked Emefiele to resign as CBN governor “in line with Section 9 of the CBN Act”.

BREAKING: Following reports that the CBN governor Mr Godwin Emefiele has picked the APC N100m presidential nomination form, we urge him to immediately resign his position in line with S. 9 of the CBN Act.

Engaging in politics will conflict with/detract from his full-time duties.

— SERAP (@SERAPNigeria) May 6, 2022

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: How To Unseat a CBN Governor

Social media was awash with the news of the nomination form Emefiele bought, but it was later announced that interest groups paid for the form. The trio of “rice farmers”, “Emefiele Support Group” and “Friends of Godwin Emefiele” claimed to have paid the N100 million.

Emefiele would later turn down the offer to run for president and withdraw the suit on his eligibility.

SUDDEN NAIRA REDESIGN

In late 2022, the CBN announced it had received approval from President Muhammadu Buhari to redesign three naira denomination notes.

Naira Redesign: CBN Governor optimistic that monetary policy implementation will be more effective with more accurate data on money supply and monetary aggregates

— Central Bank of Nigeria (@cenbank) November 23, 2022

READ ALSO: FG Unveils New N200, N500, N1000 Banknotes To Enter Circulation Dec. 15

Buhari and Emefiele unveiled the new banknotes on November 23. Emefiele said that the old banknotes would cease to serve as legal tender by the end of January 2023 and ordered new cash withdrawal limits.

Criticism arose about the closeness of the banknote redesign event to a major event such as the 2023 general election.

Two months to circulate the new naira notes and remove the old notes in circulation has proven to be an ill-thought decision. It’s less than 20 days to the deadline of old 200, 500 and 1000 naira notes and many deposit banks have failed to collect the old notes.

The new banknotes are limited in circulation, some banks have claimed.

TERROR FUNDING ALLEGATION

The House of Representatives invited Emefiele to address recent CBN decisions and respond to legislators’ queries in December 2022. Emefiele was absent twice.

He wrote to the legislators that he was outside Nigeria attending to his health and other official duties. He didn’t state when he left the country or when he would return in that letter.

At this time, there were reports that the Department of State Services (DSS) was seeking to find ways to arrest Emefiele.

On December 7, the DSS filed a suit marked FHC/Abj/CS/2255/2022 seeking to arrest Emefiele, but Justice J. T. Tosho, the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, refused to grant the application.

“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,” Tosho said.

Justice M. A. Hassan of a high court in Abuja also barred the DSS and Usman Baba, the Inspector General of Police, from arresting and detaining Emefiele over the allegations of terrorism funding against him when the Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership filed lawsuit GAR/CV/41/2022 against the DSS on December 19.

Although the DSS has never made an official statement admitting or denying its attempt to arrest Emefiele, the court rulings make it clear what its desires are.

89 TRILLION STAMP DUTY MISSING

Muhammed Gudaji Kazaure, a member of the Nigerian House of Representatives from Jigawa State, recently accused the CBN of failing to remit N89.1 trillion to the federal government.

According to Kazaure, the trillions had accumulated from stamp duties and bank charges since 2013. The CBN hid the funds in a private account, Kazaure claimed.

pic.twitter.com/Rhfg0N1rx2

— Hon. Gudaji Kazaure (@Kazaureee) December 24, 2022

Kazaure has since asked for an audience with President Muhammadu Buhari and Emefiele.

Garba Shehu, the official spokesperson for Buhari, responded that allegations of missing N89 trillion worth of stamp duty were untrue and “totally ridiculous”.

Shehu said that it was impossible for such trillions to lay low in bank accounts without the government’s knowledge. He did suggest that the federal government was in the middle of retrieving stamp duty funds.

“Let me inform that Mr. President has not completely ignored these matters. Indeed, a duly authorised committee under the Attorney-General & Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), is working to reconcile, recover and transfer all stamp duties into the stamp duties central account. The work is ongoing; it is not finished yet,” Shehu said.