Bail Application To Be Heard Nov. 22
• Pleads Not Guilty To Amended Six-count Charge
A federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Maitama, Abuja, yesterday, ordered the remand of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in Kuje Correctional Centre pending ruling on his bail application.
Justice Hamza Muazu gave the order following Emefiele’s arraignment and his not guilty plea to a six-count amended charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Justice Muazu, who took arguments on Emefiele’s bail application, adjourned till November 22 for ruling on the bail application and November 28 for the commencement of trial.
The original 20-count charge against the ex-CBN governor bordered on procurement fraud to the tune of N6.5 billion. He was then charged alongside one Mrs. Sa’adatu Yaro and a company, April 1616 Investment Limited, purported to belong to Mrs. Yaro. The fresh six-count charge is also bordering on procurement fraud to the tune of N1.6 billion but he is the only defendant this time around.
The former CBN governor appeared in court yesterday for an application for bail, pleading not guilty to the six-count charge after it was read to him.
The Federal Government alleged that Emefiele illegally bought 43 vehicles between 2018 and 2020 worth N1.2 billion. He was also accused of awarding a contract for the procurement of 37 Toyota Hilux Vehicles valued at N854 million.
Count one read: “That you, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, male, adult, sometime in 2018 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did use your position as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro, a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria by awarding a contract for the supply of 37 Toyota Hilux Vehicles at the cost of N854,700,000 only to April 1616 Investment Ltd, a company in which the said Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro is a director and thereby committed an offence.”
In the second count, Emefiele was accused of using his position to corruptly confer an advantage on Yaro, “a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria by awarding a contract for the supply of one Toyota Avalon at the cost of N99,900,000 only to April1616 Investment Ltd, a company in which the said Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro Director and thereby committed an offence.”
He was also accused of conferring corrupt advantage contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000 by awarding a contract for the supply of one Toyota Landcruiser V8 to April 1616 Investment Ltd, in 2019 at the cost of N73 million.
The fourth count accused him of illegally awarding a contract for the purchase of a Toyota Landcruiser V8 valued N73,800,000 to April 1616 Investment Ltd.
The Federal Government further accused the former CBN governor of also awarding a contract to Yaro for the supply of two Toyota Hilux Shell Specification Vehicles at the cost of N44,200,000 in 2020.
Emefiele was, after his initial arraignment, released on November 8 after spending 151 days in custody, following the order of Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the same High Court of the FCT on his enforcement of right.
In another development, Justice Adeniyi of an FCT High Court, Maitama, adjourned till December 11, 2023, to hear the originating motion on Emefiele’s application for enforcement of right.
Justice Adeniyi fixed the date after Emefiele’s counsel, J. Usman (SAN) told the court that they needed to go through the counter affidavits served by the respondents. Usman earlier told the court that he just discovered that they had been served with the counter affidavit and apologised to the court and the respondents.
THEGUARDIAN
