The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele yesterday rejoined members of his family following an order by Justice Olukayode Adeniyi for his (Emefiele’s) immediate and unconditional release from detention.
The judge gave the order yesterday while ruling in a bail application by Emefiele who, as of yesterday, spent 151 days shuttling between the detention facilities of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Adeniyi directed that the former CBN governor be released to his lawyers, though it ordered him to surrender all his international travelling documents.
“There must be an end to detention without trial” the judge held, noting that the court had in an earlier ruling it delivered on November 2, ordered the anti-graft agency to either release the Applicant unconditionally or produce him for his bail request to be considered.
The judge said it was EFCC’s refusal to comply with the first leg of the order that led to the production of Emefiele before the court yesterday.
The court said it could not allow the Applicant to remain in custody based on the claim by the Federal Government that he was already scheduled for arraignment before another court on November 15.
It held that the claim was speculative as there was nothing to establish that the planned arraignment would hold as scheduled.
More so, the court noted that a purported remand order that FG’s lawyer, Mr. Oyin Koleoso, tendered before it, signed by an Abuja Chief Magistrate, which gave the permission for Emefiele to be remanded for a period of 14 days, bore conflicting dates- April 26 and October 27, 2023.
“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,” Justice Adeniyi added.
He 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 order of this court made on November 2 is already very clear. The exercise today is due to the 3rd and 4th Respondents’ refusal to abide by the order of this court to release the Applicant unconditionally,” the judge held.
Consequently, he directed that Emefiele should be released to a team of three senior lawyers who represented him in the matter, adding that they should produce him in court on the day of his planned arraignment or at any other date that he is required to appear in court.
Justice Adeniyi directed Emefiele to surrender all his international documents to the most senior registrar of the court, pending his arraignment.
He subsequently adjourned further proceedings in the case till November 17.
The 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.
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.
With Vanguard report
