The former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Kingsley Moghalu, has condemned the arrest and detention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman, Abdulrashid Bawa, without charges or trial.

Moghalu, in a statement on his X account on Monday, said that he was “disappointed and sad” when Bawa was removed, arrested, and detained for several months without charges or trial.

“To the extent he has now been released, we have no knowledge of why he was arrested in the first place or if he was guilty or innocent of any allegation against him,” Moghalu said.

The former deputy governor stated that it is “impunity” for a citizen to be held for so long without any real or clear charges and noted that Nigeria’s institutions have been destroyed, leading to impunity all over the country.

“But it should not happen in a country that claims to respect the rule of law that a citizen can be held for so long without any real or clear charges. That’s impunity. Nigeria’s institutions have been destroyed, and what we see is impunity all over. Bad.”

Moghalu also recalled that he received a phone call from Bawa in late 2022, in which Bawa thanked him for his work at the Institute for Governance and Economic Transformation (IGET Africa), a think tank that Moghalu founded.

Bawa was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on Wednesday, June 14, following an invitation over undisclosed reasons after he visited President Bola Tinubu earlier on the same day.

He was detained for several months without charges and was eventually released on Wednesday, October 25.
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