- Emefiele’s counsel insisted that the government must first purge itself of the disobedience of the court’s order granting Emefiele bail before its application could be taken
The Federal Government on Tuesday applied to withdraw the “illegal possession of firearms” case it filed against the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, in an oral application, told Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos State that the application followed the result of further investigations.
But, Emefiele’s counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Joseph Daudu, opposed the application, insisting that the government must first purge itself of the disobedience of the court’s order granting Emefiele bail before its application could be taken.
Justice Oweibo has adjourned till Thursday, August 17, 2023, to rule on the application.
Speaking to newsmen, the DPP said a fresh 20 counts have been filed at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.
One of the counts, he said, accused Emefiele of “conferring unlawful advantages”.
Meanwhile, tensions are escalating faster than the public can guess in the financial circle as the determination of the current administration to bring to book, those found wanting in the past nine years under the leadership of Godwin Emefiele at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is sending shockwaves through the system.
At the heart of the panic is Jim Obazee, who was on July 28, appointed “Special Investigator” of the CBN and related entities by President Bola Tinubu.
Whereas the terms of engagement of the ex-Chief Executive of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) are subjects of speculation, The Guardian understands that the team has been expanded significantly with members drawn from diverse fields of expertise in the financial sector with Obazee now serving as the anchor.
Independent sources privy to the activities of the team revealed at the weekend that many officials of the Central Bank have been interrogated in the past few days even as the team is spreading its tentacles across the financial system.
Besides CBN, the team is also shining its searchlight on other institutions where CBN has substantial interests, particularly Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company Limited and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems Plc.
The Presidency, through the Obazee-led team, is said to have started combing all relevant agencies for “co-conspirators” of the suspended CBN chief who had enriched themselves at the expense of the common good.
“In the coming weeks, heads will roll across the board. The level of rot seen in the system could not have been perpetrated by one man. If that is the case, those who work with him could not have been angels. I don’t know the scale of sanction that will follow but I can tell you that a lot of people will not go unpunished,” a source told The Guardian at the weekend.
The source also disclosed that some individuals who consult for the monetary authority had been detained in the past week and released on bail.
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