The federal government is seeking to withdraw the charge of
illegal possession of firearms filed against Godwin Emefiele, suspended
governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
On Tuesday, the prosecution approached the federal high
court in Ikoyi with an oral application to withdraw the charge.
On July 25, Emefiele was arraigned on a two-count charge
bordering on “illegal possession of firearms” at a federal high court in Ikoyi,
Lagos.
Nicholas Oweibo, the presiding judge, had ordered that Emefiele be kept in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.
But the DSS insisted that Emefiele must return to its
custody — a development that led to the face-off between the secret police and
prison officials.
After the face-off, DSS rearrested Emefiele on the premises of
the court.
TUESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS
During the resumption of hearing, Mohammed Abubakar, the
director of public prosecution (DPP) of the federation, said the federal
government intended to withdraw the charge against Emefiele.
Abubakar argued that the decision to withdraw the charge is
backed by section 174 (1) and (3) of the 1999 constitution and section 108 (1),
(2) and (4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.
The DPP said the application of withdrawal was informed by
“emerging facts and circumstances of this case that required closer
investigation”.
In response, Joseph Daudu, lead counsel to Emefiele, argued
that there is no application for withdrawal before the court, adding that the
power to discontinue or withdraw charges rests on the attorney-general of the
federation (AGF).
Daudu added that there is no legally appointed AGF who
wields that power or delegates it to other officers.
The counsel argued that the application for withdrawal
cannot be done orally but in written format.
He added that the defense team has an application before the
court on the disobedience of the DSS to the order granting bail to Emefiele.
In his ruling, Oweibo, the presiding judge, said the
application for withdrawal of the charge was coming as a surprise to the court,
adding that he would study the details to give an informed decision.
The case was adjourned to August 17.
On June 9, President Bola Tinubu suspended Emefiele and
asked him to transfer his responsibilities to Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi,
deputy governor, operations directorate.
The day after, the DSS announced that Emefiele was in its
custody for “some investigative reasons”.
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