Redesigned naira scarcity: House of Reps speaker says Emefiele risks arrest for not honouring second summons

The House of Representatives speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, has said the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele and other commercial bank leaders risk arrest if they fail to appear at house summons on Thursday.

Gbajabiamila threatened a forceful appearance, saying he would have the police arrest the CBN governor for not showing up at the House a second time.

Emefiele was invited to a house ad-hoc committee investigating the scarcity of the redesigned naira notes, on Thursday, by 1:00 pm after the committee chairman, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa announced a rescheduling on Wednesday.

Earlier, the speaker of the house revealed the CBN governor had written that he was not going to be in attendance at the hearing.

Including a request to extend the window for exchanging old notes for the redesigned ones by six months, the House requested the CBN to review the daily withdrawal limit and the charges they came with.

Prior to the most recent invitation, Emefiele was summoned and failed to appear before the House of Representatives on December 21, 2022.

The CBN wrote the House, saying the governor was unwell and in his stead, sent the CBN Deputy Governor, Financial Systems Stability, Aisha Ahmed and a team of officials.