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The deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of economic policy, Kingsley Obiora has been arrested by the Department of State Services, DSS.
A report by the Peoples Gazette said that Mr Obiora has now spent four nights in custody under questioning by the security service, which has been looking into allegations of financial mismanagement under Godwin Emefiele, the ousted governor of the apex bank.
Mr Emefiele, who was first appointed as CBN governor in June 2014, has been in SSS since June 10, 2023, a day after he was controversially removed from office by President Bola Tinubu.
While two federal judges have ordered Mr Emefiele’s release, the SSS has continued to find other grounds to hold him in custody, often filing fresh charges to supersede earlier ones for which the top banker had been arraigned.
Quoting a source familiar with Mr Obiora’s arrest the newspaper said he was being targeted as a principal witness against his boss.
Mr Obiora, born March 6, 1976, was a policy chief at the International Monetary Fund and advised former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. He was also an adviser to Mr Emefiele until March 2, 2020, when he was confirmed to his current position as one of CBN’s four deputy governors.
Mr Tinubu, in late July, appointed a special investigator to probe the CBN and other federal agencies suspected of long fostering a culture of public graft. Jim Osayande Obazee resumed work in early August at CBN, officials said.
