FG seeks to withdraw ‘illegal possession of firearms’ charge against Emefiele

The federal government is seeking to withdraw the charge of illegal possession of firearms filed against Godwin Emefiele, suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

On Tuesday, the prosecution approached the federal high court in Ikoyi with an oral application to withdraw the charge.

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.

Nicholas Oweibo, the presiding judge, had ordered that Emefiele be kept in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.

But the DSS insisted that Emefiele must return to its custody — a development that led to the face-off between the secret police and prison officials.

After the face-off, DSS rearrested Emefiele on the premises of the court.

TUESDAY’S PROCEEDINGS

During the resumption of hearing, Mohammed Abubakar, the director of public prosecution (DPP) of the federation, said the federal government intended to withdraw the charge against Emefiele.

Abubakar argued that the decision to withdraw the charge is backed by section 174 (1) and (3) of the 1999 constitution and section 108 (1), (2) and (4) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015.

The DPP said the application of withdrawal was informed by “emerging facts and circumstances of this case that required closer investigation”.

In response, Joseph Daudu, lead counsel to Emefiele, argued that there is no application for withdrawal before the court, adding that the power to discontinue or withdraw charges rests on the attorney-general of the federation (AGF).

Daudu added that there is no legally appointed AGF who wields that power or delegates it to other officers.

The counsel argued that the application for withdrawal cannot be done orally but in written format.

He added that the defense team has an application before the court on the disobedience of the DSS to the order granting bail to Emefiele.

In his ruling, Oweibo, the presiding judge, said the application for withdrawal of the charge was coming as a surprise to the court, adding that he would study the details to give an informed decision.

The case was adjourned to August 17.

On June 9, President Bola Tinubu suspended Emefiele and asked him to transfer his responsibilities to Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, deputy governor, operations directorate.

The day after, the DSS announced that Emefiele was in its custody for “some investigative reasons”.