ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- The State Security Service has arrested the deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Obiora.
Before his arrest, he was in charge of economic policy.
It was gathered that Obiora has spent four nights in custody under questioning by the security service, which has been looking into allegations of financial mismanagement under Godwin Emefiele, the ousted CBN Governor.
Emefiele, who was first appointed as CBN Governor in June 2014, has been in SSS since 10 June, 2023, a day after he was controversially removed from office by President Bola Tinubu.
While two federal judges have ordered Emefiele’s release, the SSS has continued to find other grounds to hold him in custody, often filing fresh charges to supersede earlier ones for which the top banker had been arraigned.
A source familiar with Obiora’s arrest said he was being targeted as a principal witness against his boss.
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Another top CBN official Abbas Masanawa was arrested recently and held in custody, as officials seek to determine the steepness of Emefiele’s alleged corruption.
Peoples Gazette reports that no report was promptly received from the SSS and CBN about Mr Obiora’s detention, which officials said was not entirely unexpected given his knowledge of CBN’s policy decisions.
Obiora, born 6 March, 1976, was a policy chief at the International Monetary Fund and advised former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
He was also an adviser to Mr Emefiele until 2 March, 2020, when he was confirmed to his current position as one of CBN’s four deputy Governors.
In late July, President Tinubu appointed a special investigator to probe the CBN and other federal agencies suspected of long fostering a culture of public graft.
Meanwhile, Jim Osayande Obazee resumed work in early August at CBN, officials said.