The Special Investigative team set up to investigate the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) activities under its former governor, Godwin Emefiele, is ready to submit its interim report to President Bola Tinubu.
Recall that on July 28, 2023, President Tinubu named the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria, Jim Obazee, as the Special Investigator to investigate CBN activities and other allied entities.
Some leading banks’ Chief Executives and top business moguls are in a panic ahead of the submission of the investigative report to the President.
According to ThisNigeria, some bank chiefs and industry players have been making “frantic moves to reach out to top aides of the President in the Villa to find a soft landing for them.”
Speaking on the platform, presidency sources, Emefiele had mentioned some of the bank chiefs as either beneficiaries of the sleaze funds or accessories who facilitated the disbursement of the monies under investigation.
One of the sources told ThisNigeria that some of the banks’ chiefs, who benefitted from the Anchor Borrowers programme and business moguls involved in dollar round-tripping, had earlier trailed the President to Paris, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia when he visited.
The source said the bank chefs and top businessmen went to see the President to see if they could stop the Special Investigator from including them among those to be arraigned for prosecution.
According to the source, the President washed his hands off the case because “it is a matter solely for the Special Investigator and his team, and he is unlikely to interfere.”
“They should be ready to defend their actions if called upon,” said the source.