He President Bola Tinubu The administration does not respect the rule of law, a judge said during a ruling on Thursday.
Nicholas Oweibo, a federal high court judge in Lagos, had this to say when delivering his ruling on charges of ‘illegal possession of firearms and ammunition’ against suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Godwin Emefiele.
On Tuesday, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the federal Ministry of Justice, Abubakar Mohammed, had submitted an oral request for the two charges to be dropped.
The prosecutor told the judge that his decision to drop the charges was based on facts and circumstances emerging from the case that require further investigation.
“The prosecution has shown that they do not respect the law and have no respect for the court. The court cannot force them,” the judge said.
“What good will it do to the defendant who is in custody? Of what benefit will it be to keep the file in the court file?
“To stop the embarrassment of the court and keep their integrity intact, I think the right thing to do is to allow them to drop the indictment.
“They can just drop it and the court will still have to strike it down for lack of diligent prosecution. The withdrawal request is hereby granted.”
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On Tuesday, Mohammed told the judge that the withdrawal request was based on the result of further investigations by the government.
Mohammed later told reporters that they will “probably come back with more charges, more charges” against the suspended bank boss.
On July 25, Emefiele was indicted on one count of two counts of “illegal possession” of firearms and live ammunition.
The government had charged the bank boss with possessing a single barrel shotgun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without a license, an offense contrary to section 4 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Federation Laws 2004 and punishable under the Section 27 (1b) of the same Act.
Defendant was also charged with having in his possession 123 rounds of live ammunition (cartridges) without a license, which is contrary to section 8 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Federation Laws 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1) (b) (il) of the same Law.
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The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the charge, prompting the court to grant him bail in the amount of N20 million and ordered his remand in custody with the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS). The order was mocked by the State Security Service (SSS).
But the federal government explained to journalists that they did not disobey the court order, but that certain administrative processes “slowed down” compliance.
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Let hear it in the comment below if you do have an opinion on this; The Nigerian government has no “respect for the courts”