The financial industry and Nigerians were hit with a report that President Muhammadu Buhari had granted Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele study leave.
An online news platform had claimed Emefiele applied for study leave as a means to flee the country before the May 29 assumption of office by President-elect Bola Tinubu.
The report claimed that the Department of State Services (DSS), which attempted to arrest and detain Emefiele in the past over certain allegations against him, “kicked against the study leave reportedly granted to Emefiele as it means he will flee the country before May 29 when another government comes in.”
Responding to The Nation in a short message on the topic, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said: “If the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been granted study leave, supposedly, by President Muhammadu Buhari, this is unknown to us.
“It is also unknown to the President’s Secretariat, headed by the Chief of Staff.”
A source in the CBN also denied knowledge of such approval by the President.
