On Wednesday, Folashodun Shonubi, a former acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, told Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, that intrigues and politics were involved in the 2022 naira redesign effort.<\/p>\n
Shonubi, who was the Deputy Governor of Operations before being appointed as acting CBN Governor and is now retired, testified in court as a witness in the trial of former CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.<\/p>\n
He alleged that the new naira notes produced by the CBN under Emefiele differed from what former President Muhammadu Buhari approved.<\/p>\n
In response to queries from Emefiele’s lawyer, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), Shonubi indicated the late 2022 naira redesign exercise, ahead of the 2023 general elections, was plagued with politics.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe currency redesign of 2022 was the only one I was part of. When we had meetings with the defendant (Emefiele), he said there were politics and intrigues around the whole exercise,\u201d Shonubi stated.<\/p>\n
However, he did not dwell on the intrigues and politics involved.<\/p>\n
When asked if there was presidential consent for the naira redesign, the witness stated that Emefiele submitted a paper including the President’s signature at one of the CBN’s Committee of Governors meetings.<\/p>\n
He also claimed that the redesigned naira notes created by the CBN under Emefiele did not match those approved by the President.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CBN, under Emefiele, produced something different from what former President Muhammadu Buhari approved,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Shonubi stated that he had not seen any letters from the Committee of Governors or the CBN board objecting or rejecting the President’s acceptance of the currency makeover.<\/p>\n
When asked if he knew all that happened between President Buhari and Emefiele during the naira redesign, he said no.<\/p>\n
He added that Emefiele was the only one who spoke with the President about the situation.<\/p>\n
Shonubi also revealed that he was summoned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in connection with the redesign case and gave testimony to the commission.<\/p>\n
However, he stated that the EFCC did not undertake a face-to-face confrontation between him and Emefiele on Emefiele’s statements.<\/p>\n
The witness went on to say that Emefiele drafted the letter for the currency redesign and forwarded it to the President without following the CBN’s protocols.<\/p>\n
He explained that under regular protocols, the CBN’s Currency Management Department must provide a recommendation for the redesign.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that, a proposal would be submitted to the Committee of Governors for consideration. Upon the COG\u2019s approval, the matter would be forwarded to the CBN Board, which, in turn, would make a recommendation to the President. After receiving the President\u2019s approval, the bank would then set up an internal committee to execute the currency redesign exercise,\u201d Shonubi explained.<\/p>\n
Shonubi, the apex bank’s Deputy Governor, claimed he served on both the COG and the CBN Boards.<\/p>\n
He claimed Emefiele ignored the Currency Department’s early 2021 request for a naira redesign.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile serving as Deputy Governor, there was a time when the naira was redesigned \u2014 that was in 2022. The CBN did not follow the procedures for redesigning the currency. I was a member of the CBN Board as Deputy Governor, and the Chairman of both the COG and Board was the Governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cPrior to 2022, in early 2021, the Currency Department recommended the redesign of the currency notes. A paper was presented to me, but on the instruction of the Governor (CBN), it was stepped down. In 2022, we again presented the paper and were asked to hold on,\u201d Shonubi explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn mid-October 2022, the Deputy Governors of the bank were invited to a meeting in the Governor\u2019s office, where he informed us that he had received presidential approval for the currency redesign.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe showed us the memo, Mr. President\u2019s signature, and the instructions on the last page,\u201d Shonubi added.<\/p>\n
Following his testimony, the court adjourned the case until October 9 for further hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On Wednesday, Folashodun Shonubi, a former acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, told Justice Maryann Anenih of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Maitama, Abuja, that intrigues and politics were involved in the 2022 naira redesign effort. Shonubi, who was the Deputy Governor of Operations before being appointed as acting CBN Governor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":20387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50650","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50650"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50650\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":50659,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50650\/revisions\/50659"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}