Popular Nigerian foreign exchange firm AbokiFX has now started operating again after former CBN governor Godwin Emefiele was suspended.
The site showed one dollar at N790 and N795 for buying and selling, respectively, on Monday, July 10, 2023. On the same day, quotes for purchasing and selling pounds were N1,005 and N1,015 respectively, while quotes for selling euros were N845 and N850.
On Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s orders, Emefiele was removed from office in June, instantly detained, and taken away by the State Security Service, Nigeria’s equivalent of the CIA.
Emefiele has asked for a probe into AbokiFX’s owner, Oniwinde Adedotun, prior to his suspension. According to Businessday, at a meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee in September 2021, the CBN Governor who had been suspended accused Mr. Adedotun of engaging in FX fraud.
Emefiele referred to Adedotun as an unlawful trader and claimed that he used AbokiFX to commit fraud, manipulations, and speculations involving foreign exchange in order to profit.
Emefiele referred to the owner of AbokiFX as an illegal foreign exchange dealer who broke the law by bringing in and selling tens of millions of dollars’ worth of foreign currency to a number of Nigerian companies. As a result, he asserts that Mr. Adedotun gains directly from the rates he publishes each day on his website.
Following the request for an investigation, AbokiFX ceased operations and maintained a low profile in order to avoid drawing further criticism from the CBN governor who had been suspended.
AbokiFX, which was established in 2014, markets itself as a research and information company that is interested in obtaining information about parallel market rates and performing market research.