President Bola Tinubu on Friday ordered the immediate suspension of Godwin Emefiele from office as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The president, in a statement issued from the cabinet secretary’s office and signed by spokesman William Bassey, also said Mr Emefiele’s stewardship should be probed, and a new reform exercise be set in motion. 

“This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy,” the president’s statement said on Friday night.

Adebisi Sonubi, the deputy governor in charge of operations, was asked to take over the affairs of the nation’s top banking institution. No elaborate details were added to the statement.

Mr Emefiele’s dismissal was expected from Mr Tinubu, from whom the dismissed CBN chief tried to wrestle the ruling All Progressives Congress’ presidential ticket in June 2022. Mr Emefiele later backed down from obtaining the ticket, but not before his partisan political posturing had fueled rancour across the country’s political and economic corners. 

Mr Tinubu was widely expected to target Mr Emefiele upon assumption of office, notwithstanding the potential implication of a political influence over the central bank from local and international market players.

Mr Emefiele, 61, assumed office on June 4, 2014, following the controversial dismissal of his predecessor Lamido Sanusi by former President Goodluck Jonathan. Mr Sanusi’s ouster raised public controversy because of ambiguities over whether or not the president had the power to sack the CBN governor. Mr Tinubu was among those who criticised Mr Lamido’s removal as unconstitutional.

Mr Emefiele was confirmed for a second term of five years by President Muhammadu Buhari in June 2019, which will expire by June 2024.

Peoples Gazette was told Mr Emefiele was in Lagos when he received news of his sack Friday night, although his associates were unclear as to his next course of action. He may flee the country to avoid harassment from law enforcement agencies, which the president greenlighted with his announcement of a probe. Mr Emefiele did not immediately answer The Gazette’s attempts to obtain his comments. 

Mr Emefiele’s tenure saw an unprecedented depletion of Nigeria’s vast foreign reserves, as well as excruciating inflation via currency devaluation.  He repeatedly defended his action as necessary to mitigate the country’s challenges, which became intense after fuel prices fell at the international markets and Nigeria’s production output reduced following incessant hostilities in the oil-rich Niger-Delta and a coordinated exodus of foreign oil majors.