The passport of the suspended Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, has been confiscated by the Department of State Services (DSS). It has been reported that the DSS may also conduct searches of Emefiele’s home and office during the course of this week.
Following his suspension on Friday and the ongoing investigation into his office and planned financial sector reforms, Emefiele was arrested in Lagos and flown to Abuja in a private jet on Saturday.
Peter Afunanya, the spokesperson for the DSS, stated in a press release that Emefiele had been taken into custody and was under investigation.
A source within the DSS confirmed on Sunday that it is standard procedure to confiscate the travel document of individuals during investigations. The source also mentioned that searches would be conducted at Emefiele’s residence and office in order to obtain documents relevant to the investigation into his management of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It had been previously reported that other senior directors of the CBN might also be invited or arrested for questioning regarding their roles within the bank.
It is believed that the DSS may revisit the criminal charges it previously filed against Emefiele, which relate to terrorism financing and fraud. The DSS has also accused the suspended CBN governor of mismanaging the CBN subsidiary, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending, and the Anchor Borrowers Programme.
As of now, attempts to reach the DSS spokesperson, Afunanya, for comment have been unsuccessful.
Meanwhile, human rights lawyer Femi Falana has argued that the DSS lacks the constitutional authority to investigate and prosecute Emefiele. Falana suggested that Emefiele should be transferred to the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which possesses the legal mandate to prosecute such cases.
Falana cited a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Bukola Saraki v. Federal Republic of Nigeria to support his argument, highlighting that the EFCC has the jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute individuals for economic crimes. He urged the DSS to hand over the case to the EFCC for further investigation.