The State Security Service on Saturday denied arresting former Central Bank of Nigeria governor, Godwin Emefiele.

“Currently, Emefiele is not with the DSS,” the agency said on its Twitter handle Saturday morning.

Bayo Onanuga, the publisher of P.M. News and a media aide to President Bola Tinubu, shared a story of Mr Emefiele’s arrest reported by his newspaper on Friday night. 

The domestic intelligence office had avoided directly answering Peoples Gazette about whether or not an arrest was made, which led this paper to publish the story citing P.M. News.

This comes after Mr Tinubu suspended Mr Emefiele, replacing him with Adebisi Sonubi, the deputy governor in charge of operations.

The statement announcing Mr Emefiele’s suspension said the CBN governor’s suspension was “sequel to ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.” 

Mr Emefiele, 61, assumed office on June 4, 2014, following the controversial dismissal of his predecessor Lamido Sanusi by former President Goodluck Jonathan.

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.

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect the denial of the State Security Service Saturday morning that Godwin Emefiele was arrested following his ouster by Bola Tinubu on Friday night.