The Ikeja High Court in Lagos State has ordered the remand of a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
He is to be remanded till the next adjourned date, Thursday, April 11 when the court will give its ruling on bail.
Justice Rahman Oshodi also ordered the remand of Emefiele’s co-defendant Henry Omoile at the Kirikiri Prison pending the court’s ruling on his bail on Thursday.
The court remanded both men after listening to bail applications filed by their counsel AbdulHakeem Labi-Lawal.
In asking for Emefiele’s bail, the counsel has told the court to grant Emefiele bail on self-recognizance pending the hearing and determination of the case or on the most liberal bail terms. The counsel also asked the court to grant the second defendant bail on the most liberal terms.
The EFCC counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Oyedepo, in his response, did not oppose the request for bail. He asked the court to exercise its discretion in the grant of bail.
Emefiele pleaded not guilty to new charges of foreign exchange violations brought against him by the EFCC.
In the suit filed at a Lagos high court, EFCC alleged that Emefiele arbitrarily allocated foreign exchange of about $2 billion without bids and due process.
The charges, filed on April 3rd, 2024, with case ID ID/23787c/2024, allege that Emefiele “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office…an arbitrary act, to wit: special allocation of foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $1,769,254,793.16, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.”
Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Omoile, was also remanded in custody at Kirikiri Prison until the court’s bail ruling on April 11th.
