By Abimbola Ogunnaike
The Presidency has categorically declared that it was unaware of the purported decision of President Muhammadu Buhari granting study leave to the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, said this while reacting to enquiries from Abuja based national newspaper on Sunday, 14 May, 2023
Shehu said his position as reported by another national paper on the morning of Saturday, 13 May, 2023 had not changed.
The presidential spokesman had earlier 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.
An online news medium, SaharaReporters, had said the CBN Governor had been granted study leave by President Buhari to flee Nigeria before the inauguration of the president-elect Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on May 29.
It added that the opportunity for Emefiele to flee the country before Buhari leaves office comes amid corruption and terrorism-financing allegations against him.
The online news medium said 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 made attempt 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.
