A federal high court in Lagos has set August 15 to consider applications regarding the custody of Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
Nicholas Oweibo, the judge, postponed hearing on Thursday on requests seeking to stop further prosecution of the bank chief and on the federal government seeking to appeal the bail granted to him by the court.
background
On 25 July, Mr. Emefiele was arraigned on a two-count count bordering on “illegal possession” of firearms and live ammunition at a federal high court in Ikoyi and was granted a Naira 20 million bail.
The judge had ordered Mr. Emefiele to remain in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.
But the State Security Services (SSS) insisted that Emefiele must be returned to their custody, an event that led to a clash between secret police and prison officials.
After the confrontation, the SSS, in violation of the court order, re-arrested the head of the suspended bank on the court premises.
The secret service proceeded to file an application with a higher court in the Federal Capital Territory seeking to detain him further.
The request was blacked out after the service withdrew it due to jurisdictional issues.
On August 3, the federal government also filed an application with the federal high court in Lagos, seeking leave to appeal against the order granting Mr. Emefiele bail.
In the request filed by Nkiru Jones-Nebo, the federation’s deputy director of public prosecutions, the federal government also requested a stay of execution of the order placing Mr. Emefiele in NCoS custody.
The federal government wants the court to keep Mr. Emefiele in SSS custody.
In the application filed by Mr. Emefiele’s attorney, he asked the court to bar the federal government from pursuing this charge or any other charges against him or to seek any form of leniency with the court, including requesting leave to appeal against he. the order that grants the appellant bail and other accessory orders.
They said the federal government is in “blatant disobedience” of the standing court orders that granted Emefiele bail on July 25.
Mr. Emefiele further applied to the court for an order to stay further proceedings in this charge until he exhausts all remedies available to him at law to compel the government to obey the court’s order to release him on bail or keep him in the custody of the NCoS until he perfects the terms of his bond.
Applications
During court proceedings on Thursday, KA Fagbemi, the prosecution’s attorney, asked the court to hear the federal government’s request for a stay of enforcement of the court order on Mr. Emefiele’s bail.
Fagbemi said the federal government filed his application first and handed it over to defense attorneys on Aug. 4.
In response, Victor Opara, Emefiele’s attorney, said the federal government should not be given priority based on the timing of the filing, as the court order was disobeyed.
He argued that both parties’ requests should be considered on the same day, adding that the federal government had nothing to lose since the defendant is still in its custody.
After hearing both arguments, the judge ruled that the lawsuits filed by both parties will be heard on August 15.
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Let hear it in the comment below if you do have an opinion on this; Court sets date to hear requests from Emefiele and FG regarding custody