A LAGOS State High Court has granted N50 million bail to the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, currently standing trial for abuse of office and other infractions.
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The judge, Rahmon Oshodi, ruled on the bail application on Friday, April 12, and admitted Emefiele on bail with two sureties in like sum.
Emphasising the bail conditions, the judge said the two sureties must be gainfully employed and have paid three years’ tax to the Lagos State government.
The judge ordered that the addresses of the sureties must be verified.
Emefiele is facing trial on a 26-count charge bordering on abuse of office.
Recall on Monday that the Lagos court ordered him to be remanded in the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over alleged abuse of office and the allocation of $4.5 billion, N2.8 billion.
During its ruling on Monday, April 8, the court adjourned till Thursday, April 11, to give its ruling on the bail application on the fresh 26 counts against the accused.
However, the court could not hear the application because of the Eid-el-Fitr holiday on Thursday.
The judge, Oshodi, also ordered the remand of Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Omoile, at the Kirikiri Prison pending the court’s ruling on his bail on April 11.
The court ruled that both accused should be detained after hearing the bail requests submitted by the defendants’ attorney, Abdul Hakeem Labi-Lawal.
The charge was marked ID/23787c/2024 and dated April 3, 2024.
The EFCC alleged that the former CBN governor committed abuse of office between 2022 and 2023 in Lagos.
The EFCC also claimed that Emefiele made an arbitrary decision in Lagos between 2020 and 2021 by allocating foreign exchange of $291,945,785.59 without calling for bids, which the prosecutor said was an abuse of his office as the CBN governor.
He was also said to have arbitrarily taken another decision in Lagos in 2021 by allocating foreign exchange worth $1,769,254,793.16, which the EFCC said made him violate and abuse his position as the CBN governor.
Emefiele’s co-defendant, Omoile, was accused of accepting gifts of $110,000 for Emefiele from one Raja Punjab through another, Monday Osazuwa, on November 17, 2020, in Lagos while serving as an agent in exchange for the CBN.
The allegation stated that the offences violated Section 73 of the Lagos State Criminal Law 2011.
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