The report of Jim Obazee, a Special Investigator looking into the records of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is expected to be submitted soon, and there is apparently tension among some officials in the Presidency regarding its content.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu chose Obazee to examine the apex bank’s books.
Leadership reported on Wednesday that high-ranking aides to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have been implicated in the investigation by sources familiar with the Special Investigator’s activities.
One source said: “I can tell you that some very, very close aides of the President are not finding the prospects of the submission of the report funny at all.
“The former CBN governor apparently kept very extensive dossiers of his disbursements, especially in the last days of his tenure when politicians were threatening him with arrests and all that. Those involved know they’re in for a hard time.”
Sources disclosed that a few top politicians in Tinubu’s administration and even a few media houses were fingered in the report by Obazee.
A source said, “You will recall that at the height of COVID-19, the CBN created a special fund for media houses, disbursed through NISRAL. That fund has come under Obazee’s forensic audit, and it’s not looking good for those who have not repaid.”
In his broadcast on Nigeria’s Independence Day on October 1, President Tinubu said that the special investigator’s report would shock Nigerians and that he is expecting it be formally submitted within a few days.
Obazee was appointed in July to look into the CBN after gaining prominence for his prior run-ins with overstaying corporate CEOs and leaders of faith-based groups about the application of the Companies and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).
Ada Peter
