Plot by “powerful individuals” in the business industry to prevail on President Bola Tinubu to stop the ongoing investigation of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been exposed.
Recall that since President Tinubu came on board, the CBN and its former Governor, Godwin Emefiele have been under probe.
The Coalition for Transparency and Economic Reforms (COTER), which raised the alarm over what it described as the looming danger at the CBN said, “we also have it on good authority that some powerful individuals especially those in business who benefited from the malfeasance of the previous regime have perfected plans to prevail on President Tinubu to stop the ongoing probe of the CBN and GBEs by the Special Investigator, Jim Obazee.”
The President of COTER, Dr. Peter Chima Chukwu, in a statement in Abuja, alleged that the former Acting Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, refused to vacate office despite President Tinubu’s appointment of a substantive governor to replace him.
The President of the anti-corruption coalition, Dr. Chukwu, said information available to members indicate that his former deputies equally took a cue from him by resuming work on Monday.
Chukwu said: “ Our fear is that they could use the opportunity of their return to retrieve and destroy documents which could serve as evidence against them in court at the end of ongoing investigations into their activities.”
Disclosing move by these individuals to stop the probe, the President of the anti-corruption coalition said, “already, a team has been dispatched by this group of Nigerians to go ahead of President Tinubu to New York, where he’s currently attending a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), to hold a meeting with him on the need to discontinue the ongoing probe of the apex bank by Obazee.”
Recall that President Tinubu had last Friday, through his spokesperson, Ajuri Ngelale, announced Dr Yemi Cardoso as the new CBN governor as well as four others as his deputy, pending their confirmation by the National Assembly.
The four nominated as deputy governors are Mrs Emem Nnana Usoro, Mr Muhammad Sani Abdullahi Dattijo, Mr Philip Ikeazor and Dr Bala M Bello.
Their appointments effectively ended the tenure of the apex bank’s acting governor and his deputies.
The President, it was gathered, didn’t consult his Special Investigator currently probing the CBN for his inputs before appointing Cardoso and his deputies as the new managers of the apex bank
According to Chukwu, competent sources at CBN said they were observed to have arrived at their former offices and immediately embarked on retrieving some vital documents while destroying several others.
He further said that Shonubi, who was last week allegedly diagnosed with COVID-19 and was said to have been in isolation when invited for questioning by the Special Investigator, Jim Obazee, was last week sacked by President Tinubu, who replaced him and his deputies with Cardoso and four new deputy governors.
He further disclosed that despite his being relieved of his position as the apex bank’s acting governor along with his deputies, they were all said to still be in their offices at the CBN unaccompanied by any member of the Special Investigator’s team, ransacking the offices and destroying documents apparently “to cover up their tracks.”
According to him, Shonubi, who has claimed to have been diagnosed with COVID-19, is supposed to still be in isolation for some time, adding that he’s not supposed to be moving freely about in order not to infect others.
“Aside from that, the fact that he and his deputies have been sacked by the President and replaced by other persons precludes them from showing up in their offices at the CBN headquarters.
“Nigerians are waiting for the reasons to stop Obazee’s special investigations team set up by the President himself. The man and his team have been working without being given one Kobo by anyone. They have all been spending their own personal money to do the job assigned to them by President Tinubu.
“We’ll just like the President to know that Nigerians are waiting for the report of the Special Investigator and his team on CBN and the GBEs. So, the probe can’t be stopped at this stage. He shouldn’t listen to those scheming to frustrate the efforts of the Special Investigator,” he said.
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