Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, released on bail the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who had been in custody since June 6, 2023, when he was removed from office by President Bola Tinubu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The PUNCH<\/em> reports that shortly after his suspension on June 10, the Department of State Services picked up Emefiele and kept him in custody till October 26, defying a court order for his release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon his release by the DSS on October 26, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission immediately picked him up and took him into custody.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To secure his freedom, Emefiele approached Justice Adeniyi with a fundamental rights enforcement suit, seeking a declaration that his prolonged detention without trial was illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He also demanded damages in the sum of N5m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following an ex parte motion, in the suit marked FCT\/HC\/CV\/040\/2023, against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the EFCC Chairman, and the EFCC, the judge ordered the EFCC to release Emefiele unconditionally or produce him in court on November 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The anti-graft, however, neither released Emefiele nor took him to court on November 6 as ordered by the judge, prompting the judge to restate his order and mandate the anti-graft agency to bring Emefiele before him on Wednesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Around 12:30 pm on Wednesday, the EFCC finally brought Emefiele to court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dressed in a yellow Kaftan and a cap, the ex-CBN governor was led into the courtroom by heavily armed EFCC operatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In his submission, counsel for the AGF, Oyin Koleoso, argued that it was untrue that Emefiele had been in detention for 100 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He told the court that a notice of preliminary objection and affidavit of fact had been filed in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Koleoso urged the judge not to release Emefiele on bail, saying the Federal Government was set to arraign him on November 15, in another pending matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur humble application is that in the interest of the administration of justice, My Lord should decline the application for the release of the applicant to avoid a situation where the arraignment will be stalled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cReleasing him will pose further problems for the prosecution to get him to attend court for his arraignment.\u00a0 We urge the court to decline the exercise of discretion in favour of the applicant for bail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, counsel for the EFCC, Farouk Abdullahi, argued that Emefiele was being kept in custody based on a subsisting court order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He told the judge that the court ordered that the former CBN governor be brought back on November 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said,\u00a0 \u201cThe issue of bail is at the court\u2019s discretion.\u00a0 However,\u00a0 parties may bring facts before the court to enable the court to make a decision in the interest of justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe applicant only came into the custody of the 4th respondent on October 26 and he has been in the custody of the respondents pursuant to a detention order made by the court. This fact is contained in the notice of preliminary objection filed in this court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTherefore, My Lord, the 4th respondent is not acting arbitrarily but within the confines of legality. In fact, My Lord, the court that gave the order gave a return date of November 10, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn deciding this matter, Let us take into cognizance the fact that he will be arraigned in a criminal case that had been scheduled to come up on November 15. We pray, My Lord to decline bail and instead reiterate your earlier directive that he should be brought to court on November 15 to avoid giving two conflicting directives. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n But in his argument,\u00a0 counsel for Emefiele,\u00a0 Mathew Bukkar (SAN), said the court was empowered to grant bail to an applicant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe fact that must not be overlooked is that he has been in custody for over 100 days. Even when a detention warrant subsists the court can make orders releasing an applicant during the remand period,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He noted that his proposed arraignment was not enough reason to deny him bail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Adeniyi, however, released the former CBN governor to his counsel and ordered them to produce him at court proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said, \u201cThe fact that he\u2019s going to be arraigned will not stop the court from admitting him to bail. There must be an end to prolonged detention. I hereby order him to be released on bail to his counsel who are charged to produce him on the day prospectively scheduled for his arraignment or at any other date that he is required to appear in court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll his international documents must be deposited with the registrar of this court pending the determination of his case.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, released on bail the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8711,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_rishi_post_view_count":221},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8710","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politica","rishi-post"],"rishi__cb_customizer_meta":"","comments_count":"0","yoast_head":"\n