DSS arrests CBN deputy gov, Kingsley Obiora, as witness against Emefiele
Story from Vincent CHIKAMSO, Abuja
One of the deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of economic policy, Kingsley Obiora, has been arrested by the Department of State Service (DSS).
Obiora who was arrested four days ago has spent all nights in custody being served questions relating to allegations of financial mismanagement under Godwin Emefiele, the ousted governor, by the security service.
READ ALSO: Emefiele, associates to face N6.9 billion fraud trial
Recalled that former CBN governor Emefiele who was appointed in 2014 has been in DSS custody since June 10, 2023, a day after he was removed from the office by President Bola Tinubu.
While two federal judges have ordered Emefiele’s release, the DSS has continued to find other grounds to hold him in custody, 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 detained as a principal witness against his boss, Godwin Emefiele.
Another top CBN ally, Abbas Masanawa, was arrested and held in custody, as officials seek to determine the real situation around Emefiele’s alleged corruption.
However, the DSS and CBN are yet to give any detailed statement about Obiora’s detention inquiry, which officials said was not entirely unexpected given his knowledge of CBN’s policy decisions.
Obiora was once a policy chief at the International Monetary Fund and also served as an adviser to former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
He was also an adviser to Emefiele until March 2, 2020, when he was confirmed to his current position as one of CBN’s four deputy governors.
President Tinubu, in late July, appointed special investigators to probe the CBN and other federal agencies suspected of long fostering a culture of public graft.