A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has fixed a date for former Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele’s custody hearing.
This was after the court sat today, Thursday, August 10, 2023.
The Court set an August 15 date for hearing, AfriqueCan gathered.
Emefiele is on trial on a two-count charge bordering on “illegal possession” of firearms.
The prosecuting counsel, K.A. Fagbemi, prayed the court to hear the FG’s application seeking a stay of execution of the court order on the ex CBN Governor’s bail.
According to Fagbemi, the FG’s application was filed first and served on the defence counsel on the 4th of August.
The defence counsel, Victor Opara, countered this, praying the court to disregard the argument of timing seeing as the FG had already flouted the court’s order.
Okpara, therefore, urged the court to hear both applications simultaneously.
The court eventually ceded to the defense counsel’s argument and set the August 15 date to hear both parties’ application.
Justice Oweibo had, earlier, granted Emefiele bail in the sum of N20million.
The court further ordered that Emefiele be remanded in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service until his bail conditions are fulfilled.
The Directorate of State Security (DSS) then moved to rearrest the ex CBN Governor in the court premises after a face-off between it and prison officials.
The DSS, then, filed an application before a high court sitting in Abuja seeking to keep the suspended CBN governor in its custody.
The application by the DSS was struck out after the service withdrew it over jurisdictional concerns.
FG then filed an application before the federal high court in Lagos, on August 3, leaving Emefiele’s bail order to appeal.