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The Department of State Service (DSS) has confirmed that it has taken into custody the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, for the purposes of investigation.
The DSS confirmation came barely four hours after it denied arresting the embattled Emefiele.
Moments after his suspension was made public on the night of Friday, June 9, 2023, reports started flying around claiming that the DSS had swooped in on the suspended CBN governor.
However, a terse message posted on the service's Twitter page on Saturday morning debunked the claim saying, “Currently, Emefiele is not with the DSS.”
DSS gets hold of Emefiele
But, in a subsequent statement issued by the Public Relations Officer (PRO), Peter Afunanya, the DSS said it's holding Emefiele in its custody for some investigative reasons.
“The Department of State Services (DSS) hereby confirms that Mr Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is now in its custody for some investigative reasons.
“The public, particularly the Media, is enjoined to apply utmost caution in the reportage and narratives concerning this,” the statement read.
Tinubu replaces Emefiele
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended Emefiele from office with immediate effect on Friday night. The decision was conveyed in a statement issued by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey.
Bassey explained that Emefiele was suspended as the CBN governor because of an ongoing investigation as well as a planned reform of the financial sector.
Following his suspension, he was directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, who will act as the CBN governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.
Emefiele's suspension came as no surprise as he had been tipped as a potential casualty of the Tinubu presidency following his controversial naira swap and cashless policy that created negative publicity for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) before the February 25 presidential election.