The special investigators appointed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to probe the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have reportedly questioned no fewer than 20 individuals linked to the apex bank and its immediate past governor, Godwin Emefiele.
According to The Nation, those interrogated were the four deputy governors of the apex bank, some directors, and some drivers, including Emefiele’s driver.
One source disclosed that the drivers were interviewed because “they were the ones who carried the big men around,” adding that “many directors, especially the ones directly under the deputy governors, were interviewed.
“They have also invited officials of the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), and those in charge of all those intervention programmes were also invited.”
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 and also invited some officials of NIRSAL Microfinance Bank (NMFB) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc (NIBSS) for questioning.
Sources disclosed that the Executive Secretary of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC), Shuaib Ahmed, and his deputy, Iheanyi Anyahara, were questioned in connection with the preparation of the CBN audited financial statements from 2016 to 2022.
One source said: “Some of those summoned are detained till the following day if their interrogation takes longer than anticipated or if they need some documents from their office and they did not bring them along. They will be detained while they send for the documents.
“Also, if they are interrogating someone and he is being linked with someone else, the person is kept there till they invite the other person, and they will be interrogated separately.
“We can’t put a number to those invited yet. Let’s just say close to 20 have been invited.”
“Any director who has retired and has anything to do with the case will be invited. Even board members who have retired can be invited,” the source added.
A parallel investigation of the CBN is being carried out by the Department of State Services (DSS) under the inter-agency committee, which had detained CBN deputy governors Aisha Ahmad and Kingsley Obiora.
The source said: “The DSS investigative team is different from Obaze’s team.
“What I don’t understand is where they submit their own report. Or do they just want to keep it for their own (inter-agency) information since it is not stated anywhere who ordered them to do that?
“Everybody knows Obaze’s team gets its directives from the President.”
