- Pix above(l-r): Masanawa and Emefiele
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There is no reprieve yet in sight for ex-CBN Gov Godwin Emefiele as the Department of State Services (DSS) has reportedly arrested Abbas Umar Masanawa, the CEO of Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), to give details of his conspiracy with ex-apex bank chief to loot Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company, where he was once a CEO.
According to Peoples Gazatte, Masanawa was taken into custody three weeks ago and has remained there while their investigation continued.
Masanawa’s arrest stemmed from his role as the Managing Director of Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) from where he resigned after picking a form for governorship election as a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) for Katsina State.
The NSPMC is a subsidiary of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) responsible for printing and minting the nation’s currency notes, coins and high-level security documents.
“He was conspiring with Godwin Emefiele to loot the printing and minting agency,” a source familiar with the arrest said.
“We are still tracing billions they stole,” Peoples Gazette quoted a credible source with the DSS as having said.
It was not immediately clear why President Bola Tinubu approved the detention of Masanawa without first suspending him from office, especially since his detention for the past three weeks has crippled NIRSAL’s ability to operate. To this, a presidential spokesman declined comments.
Emefiele was fired as CBN governor on June 9 and was arrested the next day by the DSS, which has kept him in custody ever since. He is billed to appear before the court on August 23 over fresh charges of N6.9bn fraud.
Spokesman for the DSS declined to speak on Mr Masanawa’s detention, which stood at 22 days as of Friday morning.
“No comment,” Peter Afunaya said in a message sent to him for verification.
With this development, there is, indeed, no reprieve yet for the troubled ex-CBN boss, Emefiele, as arrested Masanawa is expected to further incriminate him on the array of underhand dealings that transpired between him and ex-apex bank chief./SHARE THIS
…Details soon…
- Tags: Abass Masanawa, Godwin Emefiele, NSPMC
