House Of Reps Threatens To Arrest The CBN Governor

Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila of the House of Representatives threatened to issue a warrant for the arrest of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele if he fails to appear before its committee investigating the scarcity of the new naira at the Commercial banks.

The deadline of January 31 for exchanging old Naira notes for the newly redesigned ones has some Nigerians worried.

Numerous Nigerians report that after going to the banks to deposit their old notes, they are unable to obtain the new ones.

The MPs had formed a committee to look into these claims and look for solutions in an effort to end the seeming crisis.

Emefiele was scheduled to be questioned on Wednesday, January 25, but he did not show up in front of the house.

Gbajabiamila said he will not think twice about asking the Inspector General of Police to detain Emefiele after expressing his unhappiness at the CBN governor for failing to appear before the committee.

He declared that rather than the House adjourning plenary till February 28 as scheduled for the elections, the MPs would meet again on Tuesday to punish Emefiele and other bank presidents who failed to appear.

He informed the chamber that Emefiele wouldn’t be able to come before the committee on Thursday, January 26, as the CBN had written to the Clerk to let the chamber know.

The House would utilize its authority in accordance with Section 89 of the 1999 Constitution, according to the Speaker.

Apart from asking the CBN to extend the window for swapping the old notes with the newly redesigned one by six months, the House had invited the banks to a meeting on Wednesday over the scarcity of new naira notes.