Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of an Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama, on Wednesday, ordered the release of the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele who has remained in detention since after his suspension from office by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Ordering his release to his lawyers, Justice Adeniyi said, “There must be an end to detention without trial” as he recalled that the erstwhile CBN governor had been in detention for a period of 151 days.
This was as the jury held that the Economic and Financial and Crimes Commission, EFCC, had failed to comply with a court order made on November 2, to release the ex-CBN governor adding that the court could not allow Emefiele to remain in custody since the Federal Government claims that he would on November 15, be arraigned on a fresh charge.
Justice Adeniyi also held that the claim was speculative as there was nothing to establish that the planned arraignment would hold as scheduled and also noted that a purported remand order that FG’s lawyer tendered before it, which was signed by an Abuja Chief Magistrate, bore conflicting dates.
He said, “A very crucial fact that this court cannot overlook is the Applicant’s claim that he has been incarcerated for a period of upward of 151 days without trial” and held that section 298(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, empowered the court to make necessary orders, even when there is a remand order against an Applicant.
The court further directed that Emefiele should be released to a team of three Senior Advocates of Nigeria, SANs, that represented him in the matter and instructed his lawyers to unfailingly produce him in court on November 15 for his planned arraignment or at any other date that he is required to appear in court.
Mr Godwin Emefiele was however, ordered to surrender all his international documents to the most senior Registrar of the court, pending his arraignment as the jury adjourned further proceedings in the matter till November 17.
Justice Adeniyi’s ruling followed a fundamental right enforcement suit that the erstwhile CBN boss, who has been in detention for about five months, filed through his team of lawyers led by Mr. Matthew Burkaa, SAN.
Cited as Respondents in the suit marked: FCT/HC/CV/040/2023, are; the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, AGF, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, as well as the anti-graft agency itself.
It will be recalled that President Bola Tinubu had on June 9, suspended Godwin Emefiele from office as the head of the apex bank afterwhich he was arrested at his Lagos residence by the Department of State Services, DSS and has since then, faced a two-count charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition before the Federal High Court in Lagos, as well as a 20-count corruption charge that the Federal Government entered against him and two others before an Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama.
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