FG seeks to withdraw charges Emefiele, defence opposes

A Federal High Court in Lagos will on Thursday rule on an application for withdrawal of charges against the suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.

The application was made by the Federal Government.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo gave the date after arguments on the application by parties in the suit.

Oweibo had reserved a hearing of two pending applications for Tuesday.

One of the pending applications was filed by the Federal Government. It seeks to appeal the bail granted to Emefiele by the court on July 25.

The second application was filed by Emefiele. It seeks to stop his prosecution by the government on charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

However, on Tuesday, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mr Mohammed Abubakar, made an oral application for withdrawal the charges against Emefiele.

He said that the application was informed by emerging facts that needed further investigations.

He urged the court to grant the application.

Emefiele’s counsel, Mr Joseph Daudu (SAN), however, opposed the application.

He argued that the government was in disobedience of the court’s order granting Emefiele’s bail and, therefore, should not have its application entertained by the court.

“We have an application that the government has flouted the court’s order which says the respondent/ defendant should be remanded at the Nigeria Correctional Service.

“The court granted an order of substituted service to be published in three national dailies, and after that, the prosecution brought an application for stay of execution of the bail order,” he submitted.

He added that the application for withdrawal of charges must be in writing.

“In the interest of justice, we need to prevent abuse of legal processes.

“I urge the court to reject the application and order the learned DPP to go on with today’s business,” he said.

It would be recalled that the court, on July 25, admitted Emefiele to  N20 million bail after he was arraigned on a two-count charge of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

The court ordered his remand at the facility of the Nigeria Correctional Service pending  perfection of the bail conditions.

However, operatives of the State Security Service re-arrested him in the court’s premises at the end of proceedings on the same day.