DSS seizes Emefiele’s passport, plans home, office search

The Department of State Services has seized the passport of the Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele following his suspension on Friday as a result of the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector by the new administration.

The service, it was also learnt, may search Emefiele’s home and office this week.

The security agency arrested Emefiele in Lagos and flew him to Abuja in a private jet on Saturday.

The spokesperson for the service, Peter Afunanya, in a statement said Emefiele had been taken into custody and was under investigation.

However, a source in the DSS on Sunday said it was standard procedure for his travel document to be seized pending the conclusion of the ongoing investigation.

The source added that the office and residence of the suspended apex bank governor would be searched.

The source said, “Of course, Emefiele’s travel document would be confiscated as part of the standard process pending the conclusion of our investigation. Also, as part of the investigation, his house and office would be searched for documents that can aid the ongoing investigation on his management of the CBN.”

Other top directors of the CBN might also be invited or arrested for questioning over their roles in the administration of the apex bank.

It was learnt that the DSS might revisit the criminal charges it earlier filed against Emefiele which borders on terrorism financing and fraud.

The secret police similarly accused the suspended CBN boss of mismanaging the CBN subsidiary, Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending and the Anchor Borrowers Programme.

The DSS spokesman, Afunanya, could not be reached for comment on Sunday as calls to his line indicated that he was unreachable.

He had yet to respond to a text message on the detention of Emefiele as of the time of filing this report.