The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has been granted bail by Federal Capital Territory High Court Judge Olukayode Adeniyi.
The judge ordered that Emefiele should be released immediately to his lawyers, who were charged with the duties of producing him in court for his arraignment next week or at any other day.
According to the judge, the former CBN governor must also deposit his travel documents before the chief registrar of the court, pending his arraignment.
The judge also made the point that detention without charge or trial has to cease.
In addition, the Federal Government and the Attorney General of the Federation are required to follow the court’s ruling, and the court cannot ignore the fact that the man has been detained for 151 days.
Hearings on the substantive notice motion and the preliminary objection were postponed to November 17, 2023.
Emefiele’s troubles began on June 9, 2023, when President Bola Tinubu removed him from his position as head of the national bank. The troubled and suspended CBN head was in the Department of State Services’ (DSS) custody, the agency confirmed a day later.
Following many legal maneuvers by Emefiele’s attorney contesting his extended custody by the DSS, the secret police yielded to pressure on July 13, 2023, declaring that the suspended head of the top bank had been charged with a crime.
On Tuesday, July 25, 2023, Emefiele was driven to a Lagos court by DSS agents in a hilux car.
Emefiele, 61, entered a “not guilty” plea to the two charges of unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition brought against him by the federal government when he appeared before Justice Oweibo.
The DSS dropped its accusations against Emefiele later in August. On October 26, the troubled former bank boss was held by the anti-graft commission, but the same day he was released by the secret police.
Details later…