The federal government will prosecute on Thursday the suspended governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emfiele.
Sources at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abuja, told Newslodge on Wednesday that Mr. Emefiele will be arraigned at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama, Abuja.
This follows Tuesday’s request by the federal government to drop the initial charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition brought against Mr Emefiele at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abubakar Mohammed, told the judge, Nicholas Oweibo, that the withdrawal request was based on the result of further investigations by the government.
The judge set Thursday to decide on the request, which was opposed by Emefiele’s legal team.
Mohammed told reporters after the day’s proceedings about the filing of the 20 new charges against Emefiele.
fresh charges
On Thursday, Emefiele, who has been in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS) since June 10, will appear before the Federal High Court in Abuja to answer 20 new charges of conspiracy and procurement fraud.
He was charged along with a CBN staff member, Sa’adatu Yaro, and his company, April 1616 Investment Limited.
The government accuses Mr. Emefiele of giving corrupt advantages to Ms. Yaro by awarding contracts to her company to the tune of N99.9 million for the supply of cars.
Court documents showed that the alleged transactions took place between 2018 and 2020.
Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Act 2000, under which he was charged, provides for a prison sentence of five years upon conviction.
“Any public official who uses his office or position to gratify or confer a corrupt or unfair advantage on himself or any relative or associate of the public official or any other public official shall be guilty of an offense and may be sentenced to imprisonment for five years without the option of a fine”, establishes the law.
According to the charges, Mr. Emefiele and Ms. Yaro are alleged to have purchased a fleet of around 100 fancy cars and armored buses worth approximately N6.9 billion.
In December 2022, the SSS filed an arrest warrant with the Abuja Federal High Court, where they charged Mr. Emefiele with heinous financial and terrorism-related crimes.
However, the court refused to grant the request, citing that the service did not present any evidence to substantiate the request.
But the new set of charges revealed that the vehicles purchased between 2018 and 2020 were 84 Toyota Hilux vehicles, 10 Mercedes Benz armored buses, three Toyota Landcruisers and one Toyota Avalon car.
In the first charge, Emefiele was said to have “at some point in 2018, within the jurisdiction of this honorable court, used his position as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro, a staff member from the Central Bank of Nigeria by awarding a contract for the supply of 37 (Nos.) Toyota Hilux vehicles at a cost of N854,700,000 only to April 1616 Investment Ltd, a company in which she is a director and therefore Therefore, he committed a crime.”
In another charge, the suspended head of CBN, Ms. Yaro and her company “sometime in 2019 within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court conspired among yourselves to use the office of Mr. Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro, a staff member of the Central Bank of Nigeria by awarding a contract for the supply of 1 (No.) Toyota Landcruiser V8 at a cost of N73,800,000 only to April 1616 Investment Ltd., ” the stated charge.
According to count 10, “Ms. Yaro, at some point in 2018 within the jurisdiction of this honorable court while working at CBN, knowingly directly had a private interest as a director in April1616 Investment Ltd., in a contract awarded to said company, for the supply of 47 Toyota Hilux vehicles at a cost of N1,085, 700,000 and therefore committed a crime.”
Count 11 reads: “That you, Sa’adatu Rammala Yaro, female, adult, at some point in 2018 within the jurisdiction of this honorable court while working at CBN, knowingly directly had a private directorial interest in April1616 Investment Ltd., in a contract awarded to said company, emanating from the CBN where you work, for the supply of 10 Mercedes Benz armored buses at a cost of N2,222,500.00 and therefore committed a crime.”
To prove its case, the government has assembled seven witnesses to testify against the defendants.
Some of the key witnesses include the lead bank’s director of acquisitions, Stanley Alvan; head of acquisitions, Mike Agboro and Tahir Jafar.
President Bola Tinubu suspended Emefiele as CBN governor on June 9.
The next day, June 10, the SSS picked him up in Lagos and flew him to their headquarters in Abuja for questioning.
Since then, Emefiele has remained in SSS custody. Her co-defendant in the new case, Ms. Yaro, who was arrested along with her husband, Aminu Yaro, on July 12, also remains in custody.
Newslodge reported how the FCT High Court ordered the release of the couple on July 25. But the order was not carried out.
It took an order from the FCT High Court on July 13, more than a month after the arrest, for the SSS to file firearms possession charges against Mr. Emefiele.
Subsequently, on 25 July, the SSS indicted him before the Lagos Federal High Court on two counts of “illegal possession” of firearms and live ammunition.
But the Federal Ministry of Justice, which now appears to have taken over the prosecution of the suspended SSS central bank chief, sought, through its DPP, Mr Mohammed, on Tuesday to drop the firearms charges.
In his response, defense counsel, Joseph Daudu, Senior Counsel for Nigeria (SAN), said that such a request under section 174(1) and (3) of the Nigerian constitution cannot be made orally, but in a request formal that must establish the necessity of the public interest, the interest of justice and the need to prevent the abuse of the legal process.
Responding to the points of law, the DPP said their application is made under section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015, which gives the prosecutor powers to drop charges against a defendant at any stage and that they do not have than to be writing
The trial judge then adjourned until Thursday to rule on the DPP’s request. Coincidentally, Mr. Emefiele’s arraignment on the new procurement fraud charges is scheduled for the same day in Abuja.
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Let hear it in the comment below if you do have an opinion on this; FG to indict Emefiele for new N6.9 billion fraud