Court remands Emefiele in Kuje prison

The Federal Government on Friday arraigned a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele on a six-count charge bordering on alleged procurement fraud.

Emefiele, the only defendant in the case, pleaded not guilty.

The original charge, which was 20 counts to the tune of N6.5 billion, has been reduced to six, to the tune N1.6 billion.

In the amended charge sheet, the Federal Government alleged that Emefiele illegally bought 43 vehicles between 2018 and 2020 worth N1.2 billion.

He was accused of awarding a contract for the procurement of 37 Toyota Hilux Vehicles valued at N854 million.

Count one read, “That you, Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, male, adult, sometime in 2018 within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court did use your position as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro, a staff of the Central Bank of Nigeria by awarding a contract for the supply of 37 Toyota Hilux Vehicles at the cost of N854,700,000 only to April1616 Investment Ltd, a company in which the said Sa’adatu Ramallan Yaro is a director and thereby committed an offence.”

Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court adjourned the case till November 22 for ruling on the bail application of Emefiele and November 28 for the commencement of trial.

The judge ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the Kuje Correctional Centre.

This comes nine days after the same court ordered the Federal Government to release him to his lawyers. The embattled former CBN governor spent 151 days in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.