Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been given till January 25 by the Federal High Court in Abuja to come into court and provide an explanation of the facts underlying the $53 million judgment obligation resulting from the Paris Club return.
In a brief judgment on Wednesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo threatened to issue an arrest warrant for Emefiele unless he granted him another chance to appear in person. This came about as a result of Emefiele’s attorney, Audu Anuga (SAN), pleading that because he was still in detention, all attempts to guarantee his court attendance had failed.
Mr. Joe Agi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, filed a garnishee action against the CBN in order to get the Minister of Finance and Linas International Limited to pay back a $70 million judgment debt.
Form 15 (Judgment Summons), a court document, states that after the garnishee order absolute, the CBN paid Agi a portion of the $70 million, leaving a $53 million balance.
Emefiele has been ordered by Justice Ekwo to appear in court on many occasions about the subject.
During the Wednesday’s hearings, Anuga, Emefiele’s attorney, told the judge that he had submitted an affidavit on Monday to provide justification for not issuing an arrest warrant for Emefiele.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Jeremiah Utaan, a legal officer in the CBN’s Legal Department, told the court in an affidavit supporting Emefiele’s case that he was unable to present because he had been under the Department of State Services’ custody since June 10.
“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 next inquired as to whether the judgment creditor’s attorney, I.A. Nnana, had received service. Nnana replied that he was served on Monday but wanted more time to respond.
In response, Justice Ekwo said that disobeying court orders would not be tolerated and demanded that Emefiele come before him.
“As for the 4th respondent (Emefiele), I have always said, 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.
“Orders 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.”
The judge then postponed the case until January 25 in order to give Emefiele time to provide justification for why an arrest warrant shouldn’t be issued for him.
