Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Wednesday, November 8, 2023, was released on bail after spending five months away from his home.
The judge, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, ordered that Mr Emefiele be released immediately to his lawyers, who were charged with the responsibility of producing him in court for his arraignment next week or on any other day.
According to the judge, the ex-bank chief must also deposit his travel documents before the chief registrar of the court, pending his arraignment.
The judge also pointed out that there must be an end to detention, without trial.
The court must also not overlook the fact that he has been in detention for 151 days and the federal government and the Attorney General of the Federation must abide by court order.
The substantive motion on notice as well as the preliminary objection were adjourned to November 17, 2023, for hearing.
Mr Emefiele’s troubles started when President Bola Tinubu suspended him as the apex bank chief on June 9, 2023. The next day, the Department of State Services (DSS) confirmed he was in its custody.
After several legal fireworks by Mr Emefiele’s counsel challenging his prolonged detention by the DSS, the secret police bowed to pressure on July 13, 2023, and announced that the suspended apex bank chief had been charged to court.
He was brought to a Lagos court by DSS operatives in a Hilux vehicle on Tuesday, July 25, 2023.
Appearing before Justice Oweibo, he pleaded not guilty to the two counts of illegal possession of firearm and ammunition filed against him by the Federal Government.
Later in August, the DSS withdrew its charges against Mr Emefiele and was detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), less than an hour after he regained his freedom from the cell of the secret police.
However, the EFCC had failed to produce Mr Emefiele in court at the previous sitting on Monday but the anti-graft agency bowed to the order of the court and produced him today for the hearing of his bail application.
