Emefiele Breaks Silence on Naira Notes Redesign, $6.2 Million Out of CBN Coffer, And 593 Foreign Account

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, just released from Kuje Custodial Centre, Abuja, has broken his silence over reports credited to the special investigator investigating the apex bank.

Emefiele in a statement issued on Sunday described the reports as misleading, false and are calculated to disparage his person, injured his character and serve the interest of the private investigator.

On the redesigned naira notes, Emefiele insisted that former President Buhari authorized it and that, he handed over the approval to the private investigator in the presence of other CBN top officials.

Emefiele on the $6.2 million allegedly withdrawn from the CBN coffer based on the false directive of Buhari also said, he had no knowledge of the transaction or such directive.

He also denied the knowledge of opening of 593 accounts in foreign banks credited to him in the publication.

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The former CBN Governor said he had instructed his lawyers to initiate a legal process to clear his name against the publication.

Spokesman of the Federal Capital Territory FCT Command of the Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS, Amos Duza said Emefiele was released at about 2pm.

Emefiele whose time in office is also being investigated has been accused of embezzling billions of naira and committing other gross financial offences alongside other persons by the Special Investigator probing the CBN, Jim Obazee four months after it commenced.

Obazee’s report which was submitted to President Bola Tinubu on December 9 2023, indicated that Emefiele who was in office from June 2014 to June 2023, engaged “in fraudulent cash withdrawal of $6.23 million”, and perpetrated fraud in the redesign of the naira, while he allegedly kept 543.4 million pounds in the United Kingdom.