DSS grills CBN deputy Governor, Aisha Ahmad

The deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of Financial System Stability, Aisha Ahmad, is currently in custody of Nigeria’s secret police, the Department of State Services, DSS over alleged fraudulent acquisition of shares in some financial institutions.

The Nigerian Television Authority, NTA via its X, formerly Twitter handle, says the banks in which the deputy governor fraudulently acquired shares are Polaris Bank, Titan Bank/Union Bank.

The DSS are reportedly quizzing the CBN deputy governor in a bid to ascertain the source of $300 million which Titan Bank used to complete it’s acquisition of Union Bank.

Ahmad was appointed Deputy CBN governor on 6 October 2017, replacing Sarah Alade, who retired in March 2017. She was confirmed by the Nigerian Senate on 22 March 2018.

Recall that in December 2022, Ahmad had reported helped facilitate the sale of Polaris Bank.

Sources say the deputy governors involvement in the sale of the bank was her attempt to be considered for the position of Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

She was said to have sold the bank at a favourable price.

On the heals of the latest allegations, the CBN has denied these allegations and asserted that the sale of Polaris Bank was an institutional decision supervised by a committee of senior representatives of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) and the CBN.

The apex bank added that the divestment was also coordinated with outside legal and financial advisers and approved by the leadership and boards of Polaris Bank and the purchaser, Strategic Capital Investment Limited.

The CBN stated that no other party made a higher purchase offer as alleged by some media reports.

The CBN deputy governor’s case is coming up at a time when the sacked CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele still has some pending court cases after he was sacked by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and charged to court by relevant authorities for illegal possession of fire arms.

Recall that Emefiele was arrested and detained by the DSS just few hours after he was suspended from office on Saturday, June 10, 2023.

Following his arrest, The DSS filed two count charges of illegal possession of a firearm and live ammunition against Emefiele. The charge was a far lesser offense than the alleged terrorism financing and economic crimes which the agency had accused him of last year. Both those charges carry long prison terms.

Meanwhile, the Tinubu led APC administration claimed that Emefiele’s suspension was due to an ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.

This was according to a statement by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, George Akume.

While in court, Emefiele was reportedly granted bail by the presiding judge, Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos, but the office of the nation’s attorney general objected the ruling.

The case was thus adjourned until November for a re-start of the sacked governor’s trial.

Godwin Emefiele had been the central bank governor for nine years after he was appointed to office to oversee the monetary policy affairs of Africa’s biggest economy and most populous country, Nigeria.

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