The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, says he nearly issued an arrest warrant against the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele, following the hardship being faced by Nigerians due to currency redesign.
Mr Gbajabiamila who disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja by Lanre Lasisi, his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, said the House would reconvene before the February 25 elections, if the CBN fails to address the hardships Nigerians are facing.
He said the house would continue to monitor the CBN’s implementation of the policy closely following the Green Chamber’s meeting with the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, on the issue.
Mr Gbajabiamila said he was on the verge of signing an arrest warrant against Mr Emefiele, following his initial failure to appear before an ad hoc panel of the House.
“The House of Representatives intervened on several occasions. We summoned the CBN governor the first time and again, but he refused to answer, because we had many hard questions for him.
“It was until I issued the threat of warrant of arrest before he came, and I would have signed that warrant,” he said.
He said it would have been the first time in the history of the National Assembly that a CBN governor would be arrested, adding that he would have done it.
He said many have argued on the independence of CBN, the autonomy of CBN, adding that it did not make CBN above the law.
He said the constitution gave the House the power to issue an arrest warrant against anyone.
“We can summon anybody and that was exactly what the House was going to do until the CBN governor came.
“So, we are watching, and we are monitoring very closely. If need be, we will reconvene the House, even though we have been away for our elections. I will call the House back, if need be,” he said.
Mr Gbajabiamila said amidst the ongoing hardship, the Presidential candidate of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has identified with Nigerians and faulted the implementation of the policy.
According to him, it has necessitated the extension of the deadline for the collection of the old currency.
NAN
