President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Governor of the Centralf Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, with immediate effect.

This was confirmed in a statement by Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Willie Bassey, on Friday.

Mr. Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms, the statement said.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect,” the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Willie Bassey said in a Friday statement.

“This is sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy.

“Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate), who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.”

Emefiele, a seasoned banker, was first appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan on February 20, 2014 hours after the sack of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi.

He officially took over the leadership of Nigeria’s apex bank on June 2, 2014.

He was reappointed for a second term final five-year term on May 9, 2019 by former President Muhammadu Buhari in a letter to the Senate.

The former CBN governor was the first to serve for two terms since Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999 and also the second such reappointment in the history of the apex bank.

Emefiele was in the eye of the storm earlier in the year after Nigeria’s central bank redesigned 200, 500 and 1,000 naira notes.

The move by the CBN sparked a great deal of controversy because as many Nigerians said there weren’t enough new notes available yet, causing havoc at the banks and severe cash shortages.

Several members of the ruling party have publicly accused the CBN of attempting to sway voters away from Bola Ahmed Tinubu, their candidate for president.