The Lagos State Special Offences Court has granted the embattled former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, bail of N50 million after being charged with a 26-count bordering on alleged abuse of office and irregular allocation of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion respectively.
Emefiele was admitted to bail with two sureties in like sum by Justice Rahmon Oshodi on Friday.
On Monday, it was reported that the Lagos court sent Emefiele back to the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission
Justice Rahman Oshodi made the remand order shortly after the anti-graft agency arraigned Emefiele on 26 counts bordering on “abuse of office, accepting gratifications, corrupt demand, receiving property fraudulently obtained, and conferring corrupt advantage.”
In the substance of the charges, the EFCC alleged that he abused his office while he was CBN governor through alleged allocations of $4.5bn and N2.8bn.
However, in his ruling today, Oshodi held that the sureties must be gainfully employed and have paid the three years’ tax of the Lagos State government.
He also ordered that the sureties must show proper identification and be registered in the Lagos State Bail Management System.
The judge stressed that he was satisfied with the bail conditions of N1 million, earlier given to Mr Emefiele’s co-defendant, Henry Isioma-Omoil, who is standing another charge before Justice Olufunke Sule-Hamzat in the Yaba Division of the Lagos High Court.
He also maintained that the bail documents must be transferred to the special offences court and registered in the LSBMS.
The High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory has ordered that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, be remanded in the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the determination of his bail request.
Emefiele is standing trial on an alleged procurement fraud.
The trial which had been stalled on three occasions finally held on Friday.
The Federal Government had initially preferred 20 charges of procurement fraud to the tune of N6.5 billion against the former CBN governor.
But the FG reduced the charges to six to the tune of over N1bn which he was arraigned on Friday.
At Friday’s proceedings, Emefiele’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa SAN, moved the application for bail but the FG counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo vehemently opposed granting bail to the former CBN governor.
The presiding judge, Justice Hamza Muazu said a bench ruling could not be delivered in view of the plethora of authorities cited by the two parties.
The Judge said he needed a little time to study the authorities and peruse through the exhibits supplied by Emefiele to support his request for bail.
He, however, ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the Kuje prison pending the determination of his bail application.
Muazu then adjourned the case till November 22 for a ruling on the bail application and November 28 for the commencement of trial.
His remand order is coming after Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, ordered that he should be released to his lawyers on November 8 after spending 151 days in detention.
The Federal Government on Tuesday applied to withdraw the charge of illegal possession of firearms filed against the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
Director of Public Prosecutions at the Federal Ministry of Justice Mohammed Bakodo Abubakar who approached the Federal High Court in Ikoyi with an oral application said the withdrawal followed the result of further investigations.
Abubakar however disclosed that fresh charges with 20 counts had been filed against Emefiele at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
He made this known while speaking with journalists after the day’s proceedings.
On July 25, Emefiele was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on “illegal possession of firearms” at a federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele is expected to be formally arraigned on Tuesday, July 25, 2023 for alleged possession of gun and ammunition.
Emefiele will appear before the Federal High Court, Lagos on a on a two-count charge of unlawful possession of a pump action rifle and 123 rounds of live cartridges with Justice Nicholas Oweibo presiding.
Count one of the charges against the suspended CBN governor who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) since June 10 reads: “That you, Godwin Emefiele, Male, of No. 8 Colorado Street Maitama Abuja, on or about the 15th of June 2023, at No. 3b Iru Close, Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government, Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession one (1) Single Barrel shotgun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without a licence. You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Act, Cap. F28 Laws of the Federation 2004, and punishable under Section 27 (1b) of the same Act.”
Count two: “That you, Godwin Emefiele, Male, of No. 8 Colorado Street Maitama Abuja, on or about June 15, 2023, at No. 3b Iru Close, Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government, Lagos State, within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, had in your possession One Hundred and Twenty-Three (123) Rounds of live ammunition (Cartridges) without a licence You thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of the Federation 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1)(b)(il) of the same Act.”
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has suspended the Central Bank Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, CFR, from office with immediate effect,” the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation Willie Bassey said in a statement on Friday. “This is a sequel to the ongoing investigation of his office and the planned reforms in the financial sector of the economy. “Mr Emefiele has been directed to immediately hand over the affairs of his office to the Deputy Governor (Operations Directorate) Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, who will act as the Central Bank Governor pending the conclusion of the investigation and the reforms.” The development is coming less than two weeks after President Tinubu assumed office and months after the CBN’s heavily-criticized naira swap. Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s government introduced new bank notes late last year, arguing it would help tackle vote-buying, insecurity and fight inflation among others. But weeks before the polls, the country was hit with a cash crunch as the CBN withdrew the old notes. The development drew criticisms from top personalities. Some state governors even took the matter to court with Tinubu faulting the implementation of the policy. During his inauguration, President Tinubu did not mince words about the naira swap policy and promised to review it. He maintained that it “was too harshly applied by the CBN given the number of unbanked Nigerians. “The policy shall be reviewed. In the meantime, my administration will treat both currencies as legal tender”he said. Channels/Oluwayemisi Owonikoko Subscribe to our Telegram and YouTube Channels also join our Whatsapp Update Group
…Banks begin reconfiguration of ATMs to recognise new naira notes
The newly redesigned naira notes will go into circulation on Thursday with Deposit Money Banks releasing the bills to their customers via over-the-counter payments.
This came about three weeks after President Muhammadu Buhari unveiled the new bills at a weekly Federal Executive Council meeting in Aso Rock Villa.
The President unveiled the redesigned notes across the N200, N500 and N1,000 denominations.
The Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, had in October announced that the apex bank would release re-designed naira notes by December 15, 2022.
Top officials of commercial banks confirmed to newsmen on Wednesday that they had received the new notes from the CBN a couple of days ago, adding that the redesigned currency would be released to their customers effective Thursday.
“We got the funds (new notes) about two days ago. Our head office has dispatched the funds to various area offices across the country. My branch will pick up our allocation at a nearby area office. We will start releasing the new notes to our customers by Thursday,” a top official of a commercial bank who spoke on condition of anonymity on Wednesday because he was not authorised to speak on the matter said.
Multiple banking sources also said the new notes had arrived and were being kept in their vaults.
“The new notes have arrived, it will be made available to customers from tomorrow (Thursday)” an official of Polaris Bank who pleaded anonymity also said.
Similarly, a manager at First Bank Plc who was not authorised to speak on the matter said, “We have the funds from the CBN now. It came in some days ago but it will be made available to customers from tomorrow (Thursday).”
However, some bank officials claimed the amount of the new notes available to the various bank from the CBN was small.
According to them, most OTC payments will still have to be made using the old notes because the amount of the available new notes is still small.
“The amount given to us is small compared to what we need. For example, what is available to my branch is less than N1m. This is nothing compared to what we need. But I believe it will increase with time,” an official of FCMB in Lagos who pleaded anonymity told one of our correspondents.
Also, multiple banking sources confirmed they have started to reconfigure their ATMs to identify the new naira notes.
A top bank executive said, “Most of the banks have started reconfiguring their ATMs so that they can identify the new notes of N1000, N500 and N200.”
Meanwhile, findings from the CBN show the total amount to be released into circulation may not be much as the sum previously in circulation.
A top official of the CBN, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the CBN was planning to increase electronic payments and not cash transactions.
According to him, the CBN will not be printing large amounts of the new notes.
He said, “The CBN has been disbursing the new naira notes to the banks but does not intend to disburse large quantities because it wants to boost electronic payments.
“Don’t expect that there will be a large circulation of the new notes in the economy. There are different electronic channels that people should be using.”
In the meantime, the House of Representatives is expected to grill Emefiele over the new cash withdrawal limits policy which restricts OTC payments for individuals and companies to N100,000 and N500,000, respectively on Thursday.
The CBN had, in a memo introducing the policy, said third-party cheques above N50,000 would no longer be eligible for OTC payment while extant limits of N10m on clearing cheques still remained.
The circular also directed banks to load only N200 and lower denominations into their ATMs and restricted withdrawals from ATM to N20, 000 per day. Withdrawals from PoS terminals were also limited to N20,000 daily.
The policy, which will become effective on January 9, 2023, has generated criticisms but the CBN clarified last Wednesday that PoS operators could apply for a waiver.
The House had last Thursday summoned the CBN governor to appear before it to explain the policy.
House of Representative sources told newsmen on Wednesday that Emefiele was being expected in the chamber as planned.
Meanwhile, the Senate on Wednesday called on the CBN to review the newly introduced cash withdrawal limits policy.
It also directed its Committee on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, to embark on an aggressive oversight of the central bank.
The Chairman of the committee, Senator Uba Sani (APC Kaduna Central), had in the report argued that the proposed cash withdrawal limits policy was well conceived by the CBN for the transformation of the nation’s economy, noting that the action falls within the mandate of the apex bank as provided for in Section 2(d) and 47 of its extant Act.
The Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Godwin Emefiele, has said that he would make a decision on the 2023 presidency in a few days.
He said this in a series of tweets on Saturday.
The CBN Governor had come under heavy criticism over the All Progressives Congress’ Presidential Expression of Interest and Nomination forms reportedly obtained for him by farmers and friends.
While some Nigerians asked him to resign, others asked President Muhammadu Buhari to sack him.
He said, “I am humbled by the growing interest of those asking that I run for the Office of President in the 2023 general elections: I have not come to that decision.
I note and salute the sacrifices of those farmers and patriots going as far as raising personal funds and offering me Presidential Nomination Forms: I thank them most profusely.
“However, should I answer their calls and decide to seek presidential nomination, I will use my own hard-earned savings from over 35 years of banking leadership to buy my own Nomination Forms, without proxies in an open and transparent manner in full compliance with the laws and Constitution of The Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“And should I not run for elected office, I will continue to serve and sacrifice for the good people of Nigeria under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. This is a serious decision that requires God’s Divine intervention: in the next few days The Almighty will so direct.”
