Although the Department of State Services did not specify the motive for the arrest of the official, one of the spokesmen of the President of the country, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, later informed that the arrest was due to an inquiry about his position and reforms planned in the financial sector.

According to the Africa News portal, Emefiele was previously suspended from his post by the government, was criticized from various quarters for the implementation of an allegedly failed policy during the previous administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to replace the old naira bills with new ones.

The measure was adopted, according to allegations, to avoid electoral corruption and to reduce the payment of ransom in cash after kidnappings.

However, this measure caused a monetary shortage, which made financial transactions difficult and put the informal sector of the economy, where most of the cash is handled, in crisis.

Various sources agreed that Nigeria, Africa’s leading oil producing country and where fuel subsidies were recently eliminated, is going through a difficult economic situation, with rising prices of consumer goods such as foodstuffs.

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