JUST IN: Emefiele finally appears before Reps about new naira

The Speaker of the House, Femi Gbajabiamila, was set to issue an arrest warrant for Emefiele for repeatedly failing to respond to at least four calls from the House.

The House had suspended its plan to go on hiatus for the presidential and National Assembly elections due to begin Thursday because the CBN governor had not responded to the committee’s latest call.

Gbajabiamila had threatened to order the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, to arrest him and force his appearance before the panel, insisting that the deadline violated the provision of Article 20(3) of the the CBN Act.

The Speaker said in part, “I have no choice now. When we resume on Tuesday, we will invoke the provisions of Article 89 of the Constitution… The President has been very clear. The president gave the approval based on what he knows and what he was told.

“We also know the president as a man of the people. He gave his approval based on what he had been told. But we say — what the motion says — is that after the president has given his approval, how does the money get to the people? The money is not reaching the people. That’s what we wanted to clarify and that’s exactly what we’re going to do.

“So on Tuesday, this House will follow its procedure – the normal procedure – and invoke the provisions of Section 89 to coerce the CBN governor and directors.”

The deputy speaker, Ahmed Wase, had also urged the House to allow the leadership to meet the president, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), and explain to him the controversial implementation of the policy, to which the chairman agreed.

Although the CBN on Sunday extended the deadline for the old N1,000, N500 and N200 to expire by 10 days – from January 31 to February 10, with the deposit money banks (commercial banks) issuing the banknotes per another seven days, the House had insisted. that Emephile would appear.

Ado-Doguwa, in a statement titled ‘Old Naira Notes: House C’ttee Rejects CBN Extension, Says Position of Law Sacrosanct, Must Be Respected’ urged the top bank to comply with Sections 20(3), (4 ) and paragraph 5 of the CBN Act.

“Nigeria, as an evolving economy and a democracy in the making, must respect the rule of law. And the House would proceed to sign the arrest warrant to force the CBN governor to appear before the ad hoc committee,” the Majority Leader stated.

However, Emefiele led the CBN leadership to appear before lawmakers on Tuesday.

Cumulatively, Emefiele has not responded to subpoenas from the Chamber at least four times within two months.

The House had questioned the Deputy Governor, Financial System Stability, Central Bank of Nigeria, Aisha Ahmad, on December 22, 2022 about the top bank’s latest policies that include limits on cash withdrawals from the depository banks and other financial institutions.

The House had summoned Emefiele, but he did not appear at the two previous meetings with lawmakers. The CBN had informed the House that Emefiele would not appear before the House in person, but that Ahmad would head the Committee of Governors before lawmakers.

Emefiele had also failed to heed two calls from the House ad hoc committee to investigate the scarcity of the new naira in the deposit money banks, also known as commercial banks, leading to tensions over the January 31 deadline set by the CBN was set to exchange the old banknotes with the newly designed banknotes.