Emefiele faces fresh arraignment May 15 over naira redesign
Deborah Musa
The Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja, on Tuesday, adjourned till May 15 for the fourth arraignment of the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele will be arraigned before Justice Maryanne Anenih in a case, marked CR/264/2024, bordering unlawful printing of naira notes.
It is the fourth criminal case filed against him by the Federal Government since his suspension in June last year.
Although the latest charge was listed in Justice Anenih on Tuesday, neither the prosecution nor the defence was in court.
It was learnt that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, which is prosecuting the case, had requested an adjournment.
In the charge sheet sighted by our correspondent, the EFCC accused Emefiele of “knowingly disobeying the direction of Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007, by approving the printing of N375,520,000.00 pieces of colour-swapped N1, 000 notes, at the total cost of N11,052, 068,062 without the recommendation of the Board of Central Bank and the strict approval of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
It is the fourth criminal case filed against Emefiele by the Federal Government following his removal from office last June by President Bola Tinubu.
The DSS first arraigned him before the Federal High Court in Lagos for illegal possession of firearms. The case was later withdrawn.
He was subsequently arraigned by the EFCC in November before Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Territory High Court on charges bordering on procurement fraud and forgery of the signature of ex-President Muhammadu Buhari.
Again, on April 8, he was arraigned before the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja.
The 23 counts against him before Justice Rahman Oshodi border on “abuse of office, accepting gratifications, corrupt demand, receiving property fraudulently obtained, and conferring corrupt advantage.
