Fakoyejo OlalekanPresident Bola Tinubu has suspended the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, weeks after threatening house cleaning.
Emefiele’s suspension was disclosed by the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Basse, on Friday.
Basse said Emefiele was suspended following an investigation into his affairs as the governor of the CBN in the last nine years.
It was gathered that Tinubu also resolved to replace Emefiele due to his plan to reform the financial sector in his first term as President.
“President Bola Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, from office with immediate effect
“This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.
“Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms,” Basse said.
This comes weeks after Tinubu said he will conduct a house cleaning in the monetary policy committee of the CBN.
“Though, house cleaning, thorough house cleaning is necessary, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) must work towards a single exchange rate,” Tinubu told Nigerians during the nationwide broadcast of his inauguration.
Tinubu was also critical of Emefiele’s policies, such as the naira redesign policy, which he said the suspended CBN governor implemented harshly.
“Whatever merits it had in concept, the currency swap was too harshly applied by the CBN given the number of unbanked Nigerians.
“The policy shall be reviewed. In the meantime, my administration will treat both currencies as legal tender,” He said.
The President claimed during his campaign that the naira redesign policy was initiated to reduce his chances of victory in the Presidential election. Recall that Emefiele had reportedly planned to vie for the presidential seat as well, but allegedly pulled out after a lawsuit was filed against him.
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