The DSS confirmation came barely four hours after it denied arresting the embattled suspended Central Bank governor.
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.”
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.
It can be recalled that 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.
Meanwhile, Emefiele’s suspension come with no surprises 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.
