The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has charged Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), with four more counts.
The former CBN governor appeared before Maryann Anenih, a judge of a federal capital territory (FCT) high court and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In this latest indictment, the anti-graft agency accuses Emefiele of printing “illegal” naira notes.
In the charge sheet, the EFCC claims that Emefiele “disobeyed the direction of law with intent to cause injury to the public” by permitting the printing of naira notes without “strict approval” from former President Muhammadu Buhari and the CBN board.
The anti-corruption agency also accused Emefiele of authorising the withdrawal of N124.8 billion from the consolidated revenue fund “in a manner not prescribed by the national assembly”.
The charge reads:
“That you GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE between the 19th day of October 2022 and 5th March 2023 in Abuja, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007, by approving the printing of N375,520,000.00 pieces of colour swapped N1, 000, at the total cost of N11,052, 068,062 without the recommendation of the Board of Central Bank and the strict approval of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria which conduct of yours caused injury to the public and you thereby committed an offence.”
“That you, GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE, between the 19th of October 2022 and the 5th of March 2023 in Abuja, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 19 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, by approving the printing of 172,000,000 pieces of colour swapped N500 (Five Hundred Naira) Notes, at the total cost of N4, 471,066,040 without the recommendation of the Board of Central Bank and the strict approval of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria which conduct of yours caused injury to the public and you thereby committed an offence.
“That you GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE between the 19th day of October 2022 and 5th March 2023 in Abuja, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007, by approving the printing of 137,070,000 pieces of colour-swapped N200 (Two Hundred Naira) Note, at the total cost of N3, 441, 005, 280 without the recommendation of the Board of Central Bank and the strict approval of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria which conduct of yours caused injury to the public and you thereby committed an offence.
“That you, GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE, on or about the 7th day of October 2020, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 80 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended), by approving the withdrawal of the total sum of N124, 860, 227, 865.16 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation in a manner not prescribed by the National Assembly, which conduct of yours caused injury to the public and you thereby committed an offence.”
In October 2022, CBN announced plans to redesign the highest-value banknotes (N200, N500, and N1000) to control the money supply and fight crime.
The plan involved replacing old notes with new ones by January 2023.
However, this caused a cash shortage and sparked protests. Critics argued the policy was politically motivated.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court intervened, suspending the deadline and allowing both old and new notes to be used indefinitely.
