Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank, is accused of running 593 bank accounts in the US, UK, and China, where it is said that Nigerian monies were held without approval from the CBN's Board and Investment Committee.According to a report written by Jim Obazee, a special investigator assigned by President Bola Tinubu, Emefiele and other officials are accused of stealing billions of naira from the CBN's accounts, including a "fraudulent cash withdrawal of $6.23 million" that occurred shortly before the 2023 elections.
"During his tenure as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele invested Nigerian funds in 593 foreign bank accounts located in China, the United States, and the United Kingdom without authorization," the study stated.
"Every account where billions were deposited has been tracked down by the investigator."
Obazee stated that he discovered 543.4 million pounds that Emefiele had stashed away in fixed deposit accounts during his inquiry in the United Kingdom. He further stated that Emefiele had committed fraud in the CBN's e-Naira project and had manipulated the value of the Naira.
In violation of Section 19 (1) of the CBN Act, 2007, the contentious naira redesign "was neither recommended by the Board of the CBN nor approved by the then President, Muhammadu Buhari," according to Obazee's assessment.
He added that, in violation of Section 19 of the CBN Act of 2007, Emefiele failed to seek advice from the CBN Board or communicate with the organization's management.
"It was a plot by one of the former CBN deputy governors, Mr. Folashodun Shonubi, and the then-CBN governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, against the Nigerian people, and particularly the political class. Obazee stated that Mr. Godwin Emefiele devised and approved the currency on October 19, 2022, and that Mr. Shonubi came up with the idea (citing intertwined problems).
"It was in fact intended to irritate the political elite and complicate their electoral agenda. It ended up being a severe penalty for Nigerians and, ironically, the country's economy.
According to the investigation, the former president "merely approved that the currency be printed in Nigeria," but he did not sign off on the redesign as required by law.
He clarified that after Emefiele had given the contract to Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Plc on October 31, 2022, the redesign was only brought up to the CBN board on December 15, 2022.
Despite the fact that as of August, the total value of the new notes in circulation was only N769,562 billion, Obazee claims that the CBN printed the new N200, N500, and N1000 notes for a total cost of N61.5 billion, of which N31.8 billion was given to the contractor.
"A total of N1,727,500,000 was also spent on dubious legal fees on 19 cases that are directly traceable to the Naira redesign and reconfiguration agenda," the investigator continued.
In addition, the Special Investigator revealed more wrongdoing, claiming that Emefiele and his deputies were complicit in fraud pertaining to the improper use of the "Ways and Means" facility. This facility was allegedly exploited to the tune of N26.627 trillion, he claimed. It was meant for temporary government finance.
The probe also uncovered dubious intervention initiatives, dubious COVID-19-related expenses, and a fabrication of the president's consent for NESI Stabilization Strategy Ltd.
"Section 38 of the CBN Act, 2007 allows the CBN to grant temporary advances to the Federal Government in respect of a temporary deficiency of budget revenue at an interest rate," the investigator said in reference to the "fraudulent use of 'Ways and Means.'" This is what is usually meant to be understood as "Ways and Means." The aforementioned Section further stipulates that the CBN would no longer be able to offer similar advances in the future if the advances are not repaid before the end of the Federal Government financial year in which they are given. The advance cannot ever be reimbursed by the issuing of Treasury Bills, promissory notes, or securitization.
It surprised me, Mr. President, that the honorable outlet under the previous administration turned into a major supplier of false drainpipe for the previous CBN Governor, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, the Minister of Finance at the time, the four deputy CBN Governors (posing as COG), the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, the Accountant General of the Federation, and even the Chief of Staff at the time. In one case, they added N198,963,162,187 to what the former president Muhammadu Buhari had approved, roughly translating that permission to be between N801,036,937,813 and N1 trillion, according to Obazee.
Obazee pointed out that there are situations in which N500 billion is removed and debited to Ways and Means without Buhari's assent, and that Emefiele and his four deputy governors conspired to commit brazen theft in order to balance the CBN's books.
He said that this was accomplished by removing money by force from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account and crediting it to "Ways and Means." He further claimed that in order to cover the crime, "Ways and Means" extended its portfolio and produced the narration as a presidential subsidy.
They were only able to partially explain a total of N9,063,286,720,318.92 or N9,258,040,720,318.92 (depending on which official you are considering his submission) and an unreasonable attribution of non-negotiated/unadvised interest element of N6,678,874,321,541,97 when asked to provide the breakdown of the supposed N22,719,703,774,306.90 that was presented to the 9th National Assembly to illegally securitize the "Ways and Means" financing.
This demonstrates that, with the assistance of government workers, the former CBN Governor and his four Deputy Governors, as well as other officers of the just concluded administration, conspired, stole, and robbed the commonwealth of the nation at this point.
"As shown by the reconciliation between the CBN and the Ministry of Finance at the time, the true position of the "Ways and Means" is N4,449,149,411,584.54."
In addition, Obazee revealed his conclusions about the theft of $6.23 million from the vault of the Central Bank of Nigeria on February 7 and 8, which was only two weeks prior to the elections for the National Assembly and President.
The money was allegedly sent to foreign poll monitors under the guise of a presidential approval.
The unauthorized withdrawal happened at the Abuja branch of the Foreign Payment Office and was caught on camera. The first letter in the series, headed "Presidential Directive on Foreign Election Observer Missions," was sent on January 23, 2023, and it marked the beginning of the fraudulent plot.
According to the report, Uzero Oghenefego, an employee, "took steps, procured the dollar cash, and released it to persons yet to be fully identified" in order to arrange the heist.
As of right now, Abdulwaheed Muhammad has acknowledged in a written statement that he planned and executed the theft of $6.23 million from the Central Bank of Nigeria's vault in coordination with one Bashirdeen Mohammed Maisanu, an assistant director in the department responsible for banking supervision, as well as a few other individuals he has not yet identified.
"A $6.23 million fraudulent cash withdrawal that has been going on since February 8th, 2023, was not found or taken seriously until December 4th, when the Office of the Special Investigator issued a Request for Information." Thus, there appears to be an appearance of officers hiding something.
These conclusions were detailed in the investigator's report, which recommended that Emefiele and at least 13 other people—including his deputy governors—be prosecuted for alleged significant financial offenses.