Appear Before Reps Or Face Arrest, Gbajabiamila Warns Emefiele

Femi Gbajabiamila, speaker of the House of Representatives, has threatened to issue a warrant of arrest on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, should he fail to respond to the invitation to appear before its committee on Thursday.

Gbajabiamila explained that the lawmakers would reconvene on Tuesday to a decision on Emefiele and other bank chiefs who fail to show up.

The House was to adjourn plenary till February 28 for the elections as planned.

The Speaker said Emefiele is his friend, however, pointed out that he would not order the Inspector-General of Police to arrest Emefiele and forcefully bring him before the House.

The House set up an ad hoc committee to probe the scarcity of the new naira at the commercial banks, leading to tension over the January 31 deadline set by the CBN for the exchange of the old notes with the newly designed ones.

Chairman of the committee, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, on Thursday, told the House that Emefiele has refused to appear before it on Wednesday., adding that the committee had rescheduled the meeting to 1 pm on Thursday.

However, Gbajabiamila also informed the House that the CBN had written to the Clerk, informing the House of Emefiele’s inability to appear before the committee on Thursday.

The Speaker said the House would exercise its powers as contained in Section 89 of the 1999 Constitution.

Gbajabiamila also said the CBN Act allows the admittance of an old naira note by banks, even after it had ceased to be legal tender.

The House had on Tuesday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene over the matter

The lawmakers asked the CBN to extend the window for swapping the old notes with the newly redesigned one by six months, and also invited the banks to a meeting on Wednesday over the scarcity of new naira notes.

The Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers of the banks, under the auspices of the Bankers’ Committee, were to meet with an ad hoc committee of the House to be chaired by the Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa.

The House had particularly resolved that the banks should be invited to explain the alleged supply shortage from the CBN, after which the lawmakers would invite the leadership of the apex bank for questioning.

The House “call on President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene in the insistence of the CBN on the tight deadline for the implementation of the cashless policy and currency swap.”

The lawmakers also urged the CBN to extend the implementation of the cashless policy “to at least six months as well as review the daily withdrawal limit and the charges therefrom.”