DSS officers reportedly arrest deputy governor Kingsley Obiora
Kingsley Obiora, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of economic policy, has been detained by the Department of State Service.
Obiora, who was detained earlier this week, has reportedly spent four nights in detention while being questioned by the security service, according to the Peoples Gazette.
The inquiry into alleged financial mismanagement by the outgoing governor, Godwin Emefiele, has nothing to do with the arrest.
Emefiele, who was first appointed as CBN governor in June 2014, has been a member of SSS since June 10, 2023, the day after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu controversially removed him from office.
Even though Emefiele’s release has been ordered by two federal judges, the DSS has found various justifications to keep him detained, frequently presenting new accusations to replace older ones for which the top banker had been tried.
According to a person with knowledge of Mr. Obiora’s detention, he was singled out as a key witness against his boss.
Abbas Masanawa, another top CBN officer, was recently detained while authorities investigated the extent of Mr. Emefiele’s suspected misconduct.
The imprisonment of Obiora was not immediately confirmed by the DSS or CBN, which officials claimed was not wholly unexpected considering his familiarity with CBN policy decisions.
Obiora, who was born on March 6, 1976, served as the IMF’s policy chief and counseled former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
He served as Emefiele’s advisor up until March 2, 2020, when he was confirmed to the position of one of the four deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Remember that Tinubu ordered a special investigator to look into the CBN and other government agencies suspected of long-term support of a culture of public corruption in late July. According to officials, Jim Osayande Obazee returned to work at CBN in early August.
