Nigerians To Protest In UK Over Central Bank Governor, Emefiele’s Economic Policies, N500billion Scandal

Some Nigerians in the United Kingdom have planned to, on Wednesday, embark on a mass protest against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele.

SaharaReporters gathered that the protest was being organised by a group in the UK, Nigeria First/True Nigerian Patriots.

The group is calling for the resignation or sacking of the apex bank governor over his alleged inability to stabilise the country’s bleeding economy.

The protest according to the organisers would commence on Wednesday, 12noon at the Nigerian High Commission, Northumberland Avenue, London.

“Hi True Nigerian Patriots, our journey to rescue the nation’s economy from the ineptitude CBN governor commences tomorrow. Our take off point is Leicester Square Station- WC2H 0AP,” an invitation card shared with SaharaReporters read.

“12noon is our time. Come fully dressed in your Nigerian colour. Invite all your media.”

According to the organisers, sacking of Emefiele by President Buhari will save the nation from further economic meltdown.

They added that the protest was also over alleged N500billion which was stolen in a private Dubai investment towards the end of 2018 which should be investigated by the President as well as other funds that went missing during Emefiele’s administration.

SaharaReporters had in May 2019 made public a phone conversation of Emefiele; his deputy, Edward Lametek Adamu; Director for Finance, Dayo M. Arowosegbe and one of the Special Advisers to the CBN Governor, Emmanuel Ukeje discussing how to cover up the loss of over N500 billion stolen from the CBN in a private investment that collapsed.

Two audio files, exclusively obtained by SaharaReporters, revealed how the governor and top officials of the apex bank discussed plots to conceal the loss of huge sums of money in a Dubai investment.

The CBN claimed the audio conversation was genuine but no money was missing from the bank.

Isaac Okorafor, Director Corporate Communications had said: “The selective conversation being circulated was simply a discussion to ascertain why the auditors took that position and next steps to resolve it. Obviously, it soon became clear that a state government’s loan cannot be classified as ‘bad’ or ‘irrecoverable’ when the state still exists and getting FAAC allocations.”

However, in a petition written by Emefiele to the Inspector-General of Police, he confirmed that the audio was authentic and this time raised the alarm that his phone had been bugged and that there was a breach of security at the apex bank.

He also asked the IGP to investigate the audio leak.