Abbas Umar Masanawa

The Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Abbas Umar Masanawa, has been reportedly arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS), for his alleged role in the ongoing corruption probe of Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

According to Peoples Gazette, Masanawa was arrested and detained in DSS custody three weeks ago and has remained there while their investigation continued.

The news platform reports that Masanawa’s arrest stemmed from his role as the managing director of Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC).

A source familiar with the arrest said: “He was conspiring with Godwin Emefiele to loot the printing and minting agency. We are still tracing billions they stole.”

He resigned from NSPMC after he contested the Kastina governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) while still in office as the nation’s printing and minting boss.

The NSPMC is a subsidiary of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) responsible for printing and minting the nation’s currency notes, coins and high-level security documents.

It was not immediately clear why President Bola Tinubu approved the detention of Masanawa without first suspending him from office, especially since his detention for the past three weeks has crippled NIRSAL’s ability to operate.

Masanawa’s arrest came after President Bola Tinubu appointed an anti-graft expert, Jim Obazee, to uncover fraud at the CBN and other federal agencies.

The Obazee-led team is said to have initiated a probe into all relevant agencies that are said to have connived with the CBN and its sprawling parastatals.

It was learned that Masanawa served as special adviser to Emefiele and steadily moved up the ladder to become the executive director at the NSPMC.

After he failed to clinch the governorship ticket, Emefiele appointed him as the new head of NIRSAL, following the removal of the agency’s former boss Aliyu Abdulhameed amid corruption allegations.