He charged that the CBN governor under fire, Emefiele, has been boosting the top bank’s annual funding by 100% every fiscal year without providing adequate justification or value for the money.
According to Gudaji Kazaure, a federal legislator, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) under Godwin Emefiele allegedly offered a N1 billion bribe in exchange for the passage of its N2.4 trillion 2023 budget.
In a shocking viral video, Kazaure, who sits in the House of Representatives as the representative for the Yankwshi/Roni, Gwiwa/Kazaure Federal Constituency, accused Emefiele of placing his men in key positions at the National Assembly so they would follow his orders.
He stated, “Shortly after Godwin Emefiele’s election as Speaker of the House of Representatives, he quickly and shrewdly used financial inducements to influence the selection of members of the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, particularly the chairman, Honorable Victor Nwokolo, who represents his (Emefiele’s) constituency. He is actually the younger brother of Emefiele.
The chairmanship of such a very sensitive committee never offered to the opposition, which is interesting and strange. You are aware that Nwokolo, the committee’s chair, is a member of the opposition PDP (Peoples Democratic Party), and that Hafisu serves as his substitute.
Because Emefiele is wealthier than the Federal Government, “this man has effectively bought over not only members of the National Assembly, but every influential Nigerian.”
In reference to the CBN’s absurdly large annual budget increases, he added, “When we arrived in 2019, CBN budget was N520 billion, last year (in 2022), they (CBN) presented N1.3 trillion budget, they could not justify it, and this year (2023), they brought N2.4 trillion. They (CBN) paid N1 billion in bribes to committee members to ensure its easy passage. When the committee chairman handed each member N10 million only, a can of worms opened, and that is how I learned about the fraud.
When asked to confirm the size of the CBN’s budget during the previous three years, he responded, “From N520 billion, it increased to N1.3 trillion to N2.4 trillion this year. You might also find it interesting to know that out of the 360 National Assembly members, fewer than 40 are aware of these facts.
“What we’re talking about right now was exposed when Mukhtar Betara, the chairman of the appropriations committee, insisted that the CBN justify its need for N2.4 trillion. Nevertheless, the National Assembly’s leadership persuaded him to approve the budget as presented, which he did,” he continued.
Media attention has focused on the CBN under Governor Emefiele, particularly in light of many claims of fraud involving trillions of naira.
On October 14, 2022, SaharaReporters reported on Kazaure’s revelation that Emefiele reportedly misused and diverted N89 trillion from stamp duties.
President Muhammadu Buhari, according to Kazaure, covertly formed his committee, with him serving as the secretary and Adetola Adekoya as the chairman.
He said that in a letter dated August 8, 2022, he requested Mr. Buhari’s permission to form the committee, which would have included Mohammed Wakili, a retired police commissioner, Zainab Ahmed, Abubakar Malami, Yusuf Bichi, the director general of the Department of State Services (DSS), and one Mr. Okafor, a former employee of the National Intelligence Agency.
According to a government source who spoke to SaharaReporters, President Buhari was unaware of many things happening in his administration, including specifics on the Stamp Duty fees. The insider continued by saying that because of this vulnerability, those close to Buhari made sure he was unaware of various fraudulent actions taking place in his administration.
The congressman described how the cash were misappropriated using various circulars in a document that SaharaReporters was able to get.
Kazaure noted that the monies ($171.0 billion) in the CBN’s private investors account had been flagged by the committee.
Funds “recycled as FMDQ debt to FGN: N23.3 Trillion” and funds “recycled as loans to some banks: N13 Trillion” were also noted.
“How CBN Circular of March 27, 2013, was used to divert the revenue,” he remarked. Under a new Federal Education policy to skill, re-skill, and up-skill Nigerian Youth on all aspects of banking operations techniques, in order to make them more employable locally and competitive globally, the School of Banking Honours (“SBH”) is a banking monotechnic that was registered by JAMB as an Innovation Enterprise Institution (“IEI”). SBH applied loans on research to improve tertiary banking abilities because it does not receive subvention or funding from FGN.
“SBH engaged NIBSS as Official Sweeping Agent to FGN on the new revenue, but its then CEO, Mr. Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi (now CBN Deputy Governor), complained, via email dated January 18, 2013, that the CBN approval was not intended to increase the cost of banking to customers; and Payment of N50 Stamp Duty on a N1000 transfer is “absurd” therefore the threshold must be raised upward. Surprisingly, NIBSS persuaded the CBN to issue a circular on March 27th, 2013 for an aggregate N100 (banks N70; NIBSS N30) as “extra charges” on transfers below their own N500,000 level, down to N1000 of Stamp Duties, whereas N50 of Government Stamp Duties in 2012 was blocked. Then, in 2013, what initially began as a “breach” of financial inclusion for banks / NIBSS against FGN, has now exploded into a massive fraud that is unheard of in banking history.
Later, Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesperson, refuted Kazaure’s assertion that N89 trillion in missing funds had been reported, saying that it was “ludicrous” for a member of the parliament to claim to be the executive committee’s secretary.
