THE Department of State Services (DSS) has picked up the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL), Abbas Umar Masanawa, this newspaper has learnt.
Although the reasons he was picked up by the operatives were yet to be ascertained, sources familiar with the matter said his arrest was in connection with the ongoing investigation of the embattled former governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
This newspaper had last year exclusively reported how Masanawa’s predecessor, Aliyu Abdulhameed, allegedly mismanaged over N5bn meant for farmers in Kano and Jigawa states and how he was fired later by the former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that Masanawa was the Managing Director of the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC) popularly known as ‘The MINT’ before he was appointed to succeed Abdulhammeed.
The senior banker, who reportedly sought to contest the governorship of Katsina State under the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2022 was a close ally of Emefiele.
He was the executive director in charge of finance and strategy of the same company before he was recommended to head the company by the suspended apex bank governor.
Speaking to this newspaper anonymously, a security source said the ally of Emefiele, who was picked up in his Abuja residence was fingered in the investigation of Emefiele and the one ongoing at the headquarters of the apex bank.
The spokesman of DSS, Peter Afunanya, was yet to reply to a text message sent to him for official confirmation and further details as at when filing this report.
