- Says Content Misleading, Self-Serving
- Insists Presidential Nod For Naira Redesign Handed To Investigators
- Denies Alleged $6.23m Illegal Withdrawal From Vault, 593 Bank Accounts
Photo Credit: AriseTV
Hours after his release on bail from the Kuje Correctional Centre, Godwin Emefiele, former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), on Sunday is set to sue the Jim Obazee-led private investigation team current auditing the activities of the apex bank over what he described as bare-faced lies and defamatory statements contained in the report and by extension the publications.
In a statement he personally signed, Emefiele who who only on Friday successfully met the bail conditions of N300m with two sureties in like sums who would also have certificate of occupancy and titles of properties within the Maitama district of Abuja, one month after it was granted by an Abuja High Court, said he has instructed his “lawyers to immediately commence legal process to clear my name…”
The content of the Jim Obazee publication, from which media reports emanated, he added “are false, misleading and calculated to disparage my person, injure my character and to serve the selfish interest of the private investigator.”
Despite his decision to refrain from matters already before the court for adjudication, Emefiele who was assumed office as CBN Governor first in June 2014, replacing Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi the 14th Emir of Kano, however addressed some issues raised in the publication which are aimed at achieving what he called Obazee’s “satanic agenda.”
On the allegation that there was no presidential approval for the Naira redesign, the ousted CBN Governor said “unequivocally that… the said approval was handed over to the same Jim Obazee during the process of his investigation in the presence of senior CBN officials and his own investigative team.”
He wondered why Obazee insists on misleading Nigerians about whether there was a presidential approval of the Naira redesign as required under the CBN Act 2007, recalling that former President Muhammadu Buhari had admitted repeatedly that he authorised and approved same.
On the alleged withdrawal of $6.23m from the CBN vault based on a false presidential directive bearing the signature of Buhari and the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, Emefiele also recalled how “about two weeks ago, Jim Obazee in company of a certain Deputy Commissioner of Police from Force CID came to Kuje to ask me questions in respect of the said document in the presence of my lawyers.
“I stated verbally and in writing that I have no knowledge of such directive from the former president and the former SGF.
“In fact, I told them that that was the first time I would be seeing the documents. On this, I challenge Jim Obazee to publish the said documents and also the statements that I made to them,” he stressed.
Reacting also to the issue of the 593 bank accounts purportedly opened in different parts of the world, the embattled former CBN czar stated “categorically that I am not involved in the opening of denied any involvement in the said accounts, and even “knowledge of their openings.”
The fixed deposits in those foreign accounts, he stressed further “are definitely outside my knowledge.
”However, let me state clearly, that the relevant departments of the CBN have the authority to carry out such activities in line with their lawful mandate within the CBN. I therefore join well-meaning Nigerians who have spoken on this matter and have demanded a thorough and transparent investigation of all these alleged frauds,” he further added
