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Dispute stalls FG and Emefiele : Plea bargain would not work, “Where trillions were being stolening, some of those affected have offered to refund N32 billion only,” Says source
Suspended CBN governor may face trial
Why deputy governors were dropped
There were hints yesterday that the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele and other top officials of the bank may face trial afterall.
This follows the stalling of the plea bargain move between the Federal Government and the embattled apex bank boss.
It was learnt that Emefiele and the affected officials of the apex bank have “not made substantial concessions on some refunds expected from them.”
Sources said that trillions of naira were being tracked by a federal agency but only a few billions of naira was offered as refundable by some of those linked to the suspicious transactions.
Emefiele is being held by the Department of State Service (DSS).
It was gathered that some interceding forces and Emefiele have not made progress on the plea bargain terms.
Despite Emefiele’s offer to step aside in August, the other aspects of plea bargain process were “not substantially met.”
It has also been confirmed that the four deputy governors were dropped because of their alleged complacency when Emefiele was in the saddle at the apex bank.
The Presidency was shocked by the “massive scale of fraud and flagrant violations of the CBN Act,” it was learnt.
It was also learnt that following interventions, the government’s investigation, initially coordinated by a security agency, had recommended plea bargain option with Emefiele, who wanted it.
Apart from Emefiele offering to step aside, other terms were the withdrawal of court cases against the government and the refund of substantial cash allegedly linked to him and others.
But there were strong indications that the plea bargain option may have suffered a setback.
“The engagement of the Special Investigator has also uncovered more mismanagement of resources and questionable expenditures in CBN than what some security agencies dug up.
Investigator have uncovered a massive rot.”
A source within the Presidency, said the CBN was stinking. He declined to volunteer information on the plea bargain dimension.
The source said the government might prosecute anyone indicted.
He said: “I don’t know whether plea bargain has collapsed or not. I don’t even know if that is on the table to start with. But I know the CBN Governor and the Deputies have been removed.
“The investigations across board are going on and Iam sure the govt will prosecute anyone who has compromised the country.”
Investigation confirmed that the four deputy governors were replaced because of their alleged complacency.
The Presidency source said none of the deputy governors complained when Emefiele was allegedly mismanaging the CBN.
“Most of the DGs “actively collaborated with Emefiele on policies and decisions not in line with the CBN’s mandate,” he said.
Those affected were Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi (Deputy Gov Operations and Acting Governor); Aisha Ahmad (Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability): Adamu Lamtek (Deputy Gov Corporate Services) and Kingsley Obiora (Deputy Governor, Economic Policy).
The source added: “Investigation is still ongoing. The special investigator sure uncovered a lot of rots which implicated the Deputy Governors.
“There is no way the Deputy Governors would have remained with the scale of corruption, poor corporate governance and complacency that happened under Emefiele.
“Allowing them to remain will mean the government has condoned all that went down under their watch.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved major changes in the leadership of the Armed Forces, appointing new Service Chiefs in a decisive move aimed at strengthening national security architecture.
According to a statement on Friday by his Special Adviser on Media and Public Communication, Chief Sunday Dare, the President named former Chief of Army Staff, Lt. General Olufemi Oluyede as the new Chief of Defence Staff, replacing General Christopher Musa.
Major-General W. Shaibu has been appointed Chief of Army Staff, Air Vice Marshal S.K. Aneke takes over as Chief of Air Staff, while Rear Admiral I. Abbas is the new Chief of Naval Staff.
The Chief of Defence Intelligence, Major-General E.A.P. Undiendeye, retains his position.
All appointments, the statement said, take immediate effect.
President Tinubu, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, expressed deep appreciation to the outgoing Chief of Defence Staff, General Musa, and other retired Service Chiefs for their “patriotic service and dedicated leadership” during their tenure.
He charged the newly appointed military heads to justify the confidence reposed in them by demonstrating “enhanced professionalism, vigilance, and comradeship” in the discharge of their duties.
The shake-up in the military hierarchy comes as part of ongoing efforts by the Tinubu administration to reposition the security sector, improve coordination among the services, and sustain momentum in the fight against terrorism, banditry, and other security challenges across the country.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has rejected a fresh application for bail filed by detained alleged terrorists negotiator, Tukur Mohammed Mamu.
Justice Mohammed Umar, in a ruling on Wednesday, noted the health complaint by Mamu and held that the detaining authority, the Department of State Services (DSS) should not release him but take him to an appropriate health facility where he would be adequately attended to.
Justice Umar noted that, by the history of the case so far, the prosecution has exhibited diligence in it handling of the case and exhibited diligence in prosecuting the case.
The judge said one of the reasons for granting bail is where the prosecution is not diligent, noting that since the prosecution in this case is diligent, the application for bail cannot be granted.
He subsequently ordered that the defence lawyer should choose the health facility comfortable to the defendant, to which he should be promptly taken.
He also asked the DSS to allow the defendant access to members of his family.
The ruling on Wednesday is the third time the court will reject his application for bail since his was arraigned on March 21, 2023 by the Federal Government on a 10-count charge bordering on terrorism financing, among others.
Mamu was arrested on September 7, 2022 by Egyptian security officials at the Cairo International Airport, on reasonable suspicion of financing Boko Haram terrorism activities.
He was alleged to have convinced the terrorists to discuss ransom payments with individual families of the hostages of the train attack instead of the Chief of Defense Staff Committee set up by the Federal Government for his personal financial gain.
He was said to have been nominated by the terrorists that attacked the Abuja-Kaduna bound train sometime in March 2022 which took scores of persons hostage.
Mamu was alleged to have collected ransoms on behalf of the Boko Haram terrorists from families of hostages, confirmed the amount and facilitated the delivery of same to the terrorists.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities has announced the suspension of its ongoing two-week warning strike.
The National President of ASUU, Prof. Chris Piwuna, made this known in an ongoing press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.
According to Piwuna, the decision stemmed from the meeting of the National Executive Council meeting which was held overnight and ended by 4:00 am on Wednesday.
Piwuna noted that the union decided to embark on the strike due to the failure of the government to meet its demands on time.
“We’ve had useful engagements with representatives of the government to consider the response to the draft renegotiation of the 2009 agreements. However, we are definitely not where we were prior to the commencement of the strike.
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