Godwin Emefiele, who was suspended as Central Bank Governor (CBN) by President Bola Tinubu in June and later detained by the Department of State Services (DSS), resigned last month.
Quoting government sources, Reuters said Emefiele tendered his resignation letter to Tinubu.
This effectively cleared the way for Olayemi Cardoso, who was nominated on Friday by the President to replace the former CBN governor.
By the provisions of the law, the president cannot remove a CBN governor unilaterally.
Section 11 of the Central Bank Act 2007 specifies the conditions upon which a CBN governor can be removed from office.
Section 11 (2)(f) empowers the president to terminate the appointment of a CBN governor but the “removal of the governor shall be supported by two-thirds majority of the senate”.
If the president cannot get two-thirds majority of the senate, another option would be to wait until the CBN governor is convicted of a criminal offence by a court of competent jurisdiction, per section 11(2)(b).
However, section 11(3) of the CBN Act allows the CBN governor to resign by giving at least three months’ notice in writing to the president.
On June 9, Tinubu suspended Emefiele and asked him to transfer his responsibilities to Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, deputy governor, operations directorate.
The day after, the DSS announced that Emefiele was in its custody for “some investigative reasons”.
