December 22, (THEWILL) – Nigeria could be banned by the Egmont Group, a global finance membership body made up of 164 countries, as a consequence of the Department of State Services (DSS) reckless claim labelling the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, as a terrorist and financier of terrorism and the unprovoked attacks on the Governor over the implementation of the cashless policy, says the Center for Financial Surveillance and Illicit Transaction Tracking Group (CSITT).
The group, in a statement by the Director, John Dimu, Wednesday, said that Egmont Group, the membership forum that provides financial units with a platform to securely exchange expertise and financial intelligence to combat money laundering and terrorist financing among others, would have suspended Nigeria if DSS had successfully framed Emefiele for trumped up terrorism charge.
CSITT said Nigeria risks being blacklisted by global financial bodies due to the DSS allegations.
The group added that the suspension of Nigeria from the group, if it happens, will be embarrassing given that the country had been suspended back in 2017, over lack of a legal framework and autonomy.
The statement reads, “We received with disappointment the reports of the discovery of a suit secretly filed by the State Security Service wherein it accused Mr. Godwin Emefiele, of terrorism financing as well as other crimes it described as economic crimes of national security dimension.
“The allegation that the SSS embarked on this plot to remove the CBN Governor for political and pecuniary reasons, is not only a huge shame but against the ethics of the Egmont group, which Nigeria is a member of. Recall that the group had suspended NFIU, an arm of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, after its plenary in Macao, China, on July 2, 2017. The group suspended Nigeria as a result of its lack of a legal framework and autonomy. It’s quite shocking that DSS could be found being part of this illegal move. We advise DSS to focus on its mandate rather than becoming lapdogs for politicians.”
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