Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja, on Wednesday, released on bail the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, who had been in custody since June 6, 2023, when he was removed from office by President Bola Tinubu.
The Department of State Services, DSS picked up Emefiele and kept him in custody till October 26, defying a court order for his release.
Upon his release by the DSS on October 26, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission immediately picked him up and took him into custody.
To secure his freedom, Emefiele approached Justice Adeniyi with a fundamental rights enforcement suit, seeking a declaration that his prolonged detention without trial was illegal.
He also demanded damages in the sum of N5m.
Following an ex parte motion, in the suit marked FCT/HC/CV/040/2023, against the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation, the EFCC Chairman, and the EFCC, the judge ordered the EFCC to release Emefiele unconditionally or produce him in court on November 6.
The anti-graft, however, neither released Emefiele nor took him to court on November 6 as ordered by the judge, prompting the judge to restate his order and mandate the anti-graft agency to bring Emefiele before him on Wednesday.
Around 12:30 pm on Wednesday, the EFCC finally brought Emefiele to court.
In his submission, counsel for the AGF, Oyin Koleoso, argued that it was untrue that Emefiele had been in detention for 100 days.
He told the court that a notice of preliminary objection and affidavit of fact had been filed in the case.
Koleoso urged the judge not to release Emefiele on bail, saying the Federal Government was set to arraign him on November 15, in another pending matter.
“Our humble application is that in the interest of the administration of justice, My Lord should decline the application for the release of the applicant to avoid a situation where the arraignment will be stalled.
“Releasing him will pose further problems for the prosecution to get him to attend court for his arraignment. We urge the court to decline the exercise of discretion in favour of the applicant for bail.”
Similarly, counsel for the EFCC, Farouk Abdullahi, argued that Emefiele was being kept in custody based on a subsisting court order.
He told the judge that the court ordered that the former CBN governor be brought back on November 10.
But in his argument, counsel for Emefiele, Mathew Bukkar (SAN), said the court was empowered to grant bail to an applicant.
Bukkar said, “We do not have two FGs. There was an inter-agency committee set up which had EFCC and others to investigate the applicant. Order 4 rule 4(C) of the Fundamental Enforcement Act empowers the court to release him on bail.
“The applicant has not been served and this shows the investigation has ended since August because the charge they are talking about was filed in August. “
Burka said if granted bail, Emefiele would not abscond.
