Emefiele’s ‘Approved Study Leave’ Unknown to Us, Says Presidency

The Presidency has denied knowledge of a reported decision by President Muhammadu Buhari granting study leave to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

POLITICS NIGERIA reports that Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, confirmed this on Saturday while responding to enquiries from Daily Trust on Sunday.

In a statement, Shehu said that his earlier position, as reported by a national paper on Saturday morning, remained unchanged.

He said, “If the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been granted study leave supposedly by President Muhammadu Buhari, this is unknown to us. It is also unknown to the President’s secretariat headed by the Chief of Staff.”

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Reports from an online news medium, SaharaReporters, had alleged that the CBN Governor had been granted study leave by President Buhari to escape Nigeria before the inauguration of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on May 29.

The online news medium claimed that the opportunity for Emefiele to flee the country before Buhari leaves office comes amid corruption and terrorism-financing allegations against him.

SaharaReporters further alleged that the country’s secret police, the Department of State Services, which made futile attempts to arrest and detain Emefiele in the past over the damning allegations against him, was not happy about the prospect of seeing the CBN Governor evade justice.

Emefiele, who had attempted to secure the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), was accused by Tinubu of introducing the Naira redesign and cashless policy through the CBN to sabotage his presidential ambition.