Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been given till January 25 by a Federal High Court in Abuja to come in person and explain the facts underlying the judgment debt of 53 million dollars resulting from the Pars Club return.
In a brief order on Tuesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo granted Emefiele a another chance to appear in person in court or to have an arrest warrant issued for the former governor of the CBN.
The event came about as a result of Emefiele and CBN’s attorney, Audu Anuga, SAN, pleading that since his client was still in detention, all attempts to make sure he appeared in person as ordered by the court had failed.
Anuga told the judge that a justification for not issuing an arrest warrant should not be issued against Emefiele was filed on Oct. 30.
Judge Ekwo then inquired as to whether the affidavit had been served to I.A. Nnana, the attorney for Mr. Joe Agi, SAN, the judgment creditor/applicant in the case.
Nnana retorted that they would want to answer after being served on Monday, nearly at the end of the workday. The court reminded Anuga that the case was heard on July 19 and warned him against filing paperwork after the deadline.
However, the senior attorney clarified that despite every attempt taken up to Friday, October 27, to guarantee Emefiele’s release under the court’s decision, the order was not followed, which is why the affidavit had to be filed.
Anuga, however, told the court that since parties had been exploring settlement before and the CBN had a new governor, they should be allowed to explore settlement options.
But Justice Ekwo insisted that Emefiele must appear in the next adjourned day.
“As for the 4th respondent (Emefiele), I have always said, that contempt proceedings follow a person whether the person Is still there or not.
“In this case, I have given this particular person so much liberty, so much leniency and the situation does not seem to change.
“I will adjourn the matter because the other side says they want to react to the process so there is not much talk.
“Order of court must be complied with and even if no one complies with the order of the court, the court must comply with its order.
“I will give you sufficient time,” he said
The judge, consequently, adjourned the matter until Jan. 25 for Emefiele to show cause why an arrest warrant should not be issued against him.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in the affidavit deposed to on Emefiele’s behalf by Jeremiah Utaan, a legal officer in the Legal Department of CBN, he said Emefiele was willing to appear before the court as directed but for his continued detention by the Department of State Service (DSS).
He said the information was of public knowledge from June 10 till the date which had made it impossible for Emefiele to physically appear before the court on July 19, the last adjourned date.
Utaan, in the affidavit, averred that Emefiele’s absence at the proceedings was not out of disrespect to the court but rather due to circumstances beyond his control.
“I verily believe that the cause of justice will not be served should the Honourable Court proceed to issue a Warrant for the arrest of Godwin Emefiele,” he said.
The judge had, on July 19, threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against Emefiele over his failure to appear in court. He said he was minded to exercise restraint in the proceeding to allow the ex-CBN boss to explain himself.
NAN reports that Justice Ekwo had, on Oct. 20, 2022, ordered the CBN governor to appear in court on Jan. 18 over his alleged refusal to obey the order of the court for the payment of the judgment debt in favour of a legal practitioner, Joe Agi, SAN.
Agi had dragged Linas International Ltd, Minister of Finance, CBN and Emefiele to court as 1st to 4th judgment debtors respectively, following an application for garnishee made by him as judgment creditor in the case.
However, on Jan. 18, proceedings could not go on as scheduled when the matter was called, prompting the court to subsequently adjourn the case until March 20, before it was fixed for June 6 again.
NAN reports that the judge, on June 6, ordered Emefiele to appear before it on July 19. But President Bola Tinubu, on June 9, suspended him as CBN governor and he was directed to transfer his responsibilities to the deputy governor, operations directorate. No sooner had Emefiele been suspended than the DSS, on June 10, announced his arrest and detention.
It was also reported that Emefiele was arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Oct. 26 less than an hour after the DSS released him. The EFCC was said to be probing him over alleged impropriety during his term as the head of the apex bank.
