A HIGH Court in Lagos State has ordered the remand of the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged abuse of office and the allocation of $4.5 billion, N2.8 billion.
While giving the order on Monday, April 8, the court adjourned till Thursday, April 11, to give its ruling on the bail application on the fresh 26 counts against Emefiele.
The judge, Rahman Oshodi, also ordered the remand of Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Omoile, at the Kirikiri Prison pending the court’s ruling on his bail on April 11.
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The court ruled that both accused should be detained after hearing the bail requests submitted by the defendants’ attorney, Abdul Hakeem Labi-Lawal.
In a request for Emefiele’s bail, the lawyer appealed to the judge to either grant Emefiele the most lenient bail conditions or bail on self-recognition until the case is heard and decided.
Additionally, the attorney requested that the court offer the second defendant the most generous bail conditions.
Responding, the counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, a senior advocate, did not object to the bail request.
Oyedepo requested that the court use its discretion while granting bail.
The charge was marked ID/23787c/2024 and dated April 3, 2024.
The EFCC alleged that the former CBN governor committed abuse of office between 2022 and 2023 in Lagos.
The EFCC also claimed that Emefiele took an arbitrary decision in Lagos between 2020 and 2021 by allocating foreign exchange of $291,945,785.59 without calling for bids, which the prosecutor said was an abuse of his office as the CBN governor.
He was also said to have arbitrarily taken another decision in Lagos in 2021 by allocating foreign exchange worth $1,769,254,793.16, which the EFCC said made him violate and abuse his position as the CBN governor.
Emefiele’s co-defendant, Omoile, was accused of accepting gifts of $110,000 for Emefiele from one Raja Punjab through another, Monday Osazuwa, on November 17, 2020, in Lagos while serving as an agent in exchange for the CBN.
The allegation stated that the offences violated Section 73 of the Lagos State Criminal Law 2011.
On 30 July 2023, President Bola Tinubu designated the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Jim Obazee, as a special investigator to probe the CBN’s operations.
Obazee alleged in his report that Emefiele unlawfully deposited billions of naira in foreign currencies into as many as 593 bank accounts in the United States, the United Kingdom, and China.
Emefiele countered the report and described it as a premeditated attempt to malign him and damage his reputation.
In November 2023, Emefiele was sent to Kuje Correctional Centre over an alleged N1.6 billion procurement fraud.
He was arraigned on a six-count charge at a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, Abuja, on Friday, November 17.
The ICIR reported on March 7 that a forensic analyst confirmed before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja that the documents used by Emefiele to request the payment of $ 6.2 million to foreign election observers were forged.
The analyst, Bamaiyi Meriga, made the disclosure while he appeared as a witness to the EFCC at Emefiele’s trial on Thursday, March 7.
Meriga, who appeared before Hamza Adamu, a judge, told the court that following forensic analysis of the discussed documents, he discovered clear evidence of forgery of signature and seal of execution different from the original version.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance