For deputy governors of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), including the Acting Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, as well as the majority of the directors, the odds against them keep increasing by the day as the confidence crisis reaches a watershed moment this week.
While the nominees for replacement of the embattled suspended governor, Godwin Emefiele, and his four deputies, will face the crucial and statutory Senate screening, the old guards will be further grilled at the Department of State Security (DSS), from where the team of investigators operates, to determine their extent of connivance in the financial abuse estimated at several trillions of naira.
According to numerous sources, the investigating team has conducted lifestyle audits on all deputy governors and the majority of directors to ascertain the degree to which they have benefited financially from their jobs.
Although the audit does not prove their involvement in the alleged frauds, a source claimed that it has been a crucial tool in deciding where to focus attention for immediate results, coupled with supporting documentation.
Nearly all deputy governors and a number of directors have accepted invitations to the DSS facility many times since early August. According to information provided to The Guardian, President Bola Tinubu decided to oust the entire leadership group since the Acting Governor had been questioned four times in recent weeks.
Olayemi Micheal Cardoso was nominated last week to succeed Emefiele on the grounds that the President had been told that "continuous invitations of regulators for a probe have negative consequences for confidence building."
The President also proposed Emem Nnana Usoro, Muhammad Sani Abdullahi Dattijo, Philip Ikeazor, and Dr. Bala Bello for the positions of deputy governors.
According to reports, the nominees received a briefing outlining the urgent necessity to stabilize the financial system as well as a specific directive to address the foreign exchange issue and the inflation rate in order to ensure price stability.
This week, the President is expected to conclude a plan to ease the deputy governors, whose tenures are still running, out of the Central Bank to make way for a new era in the financial system, which he described as “rotten†during an engagement with Nigerians in the diaspora in Paris, France.