The Federal Government has decided to file 20 fresh charges against the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) of the Federation, Mohammed Abubakar, revealed this at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, on Tuesday.
Earlier, the Federal Government made an oral application to withdraw the charge of “illegal possession of firearms” against Emefiele.
But defence counsel Joseph Daudu (SAN) opposed him, arguing that because the government was in disobedience of the court’s order granting Emefiele bail, its application could not be taken.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo ruled that the application will be heard on August 17
Abubakar had made an oral application for withdrawal of charges made against Emefiele, attributing this to “emerging facts that require further investigation”.
“We are withdrawing the charge because of emerging facts that require further investigation,” he said.
“At the end, we will probably come back with more charges.”
The DPP said pending charges against the suspended CBN governor at the Abuja high court “slowed down” the process which made the Department of State Services (DS) not to comply with the court order on granting the suspect bail.
He said it was not true that the DSS was denying Emefiele access to family members and friends.
The DPP, however, did not give details and the nature of the additional charges that would be filed against the suspended CBN governor, but confirmed that the charges would be 20
It would be recalled that on July 25 the day the DSS arraigned on a two-count charge of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and ordered his remand at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre, pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions.
Justice Oweibo had admitted Emefiele to a N20 million bail the same day of his arraignment.
But the DSS rearrested the embattled bank chief after fighting off NCoS officials on the court’s premises.
One of the counts accuses Emefiele of “conferring unlawful advantages”.
