Court adjourns Emefiele’s case over $53m Paris Club debt

Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has been given till January 25 by a Federal High Court in Abuja to come into court and explain the circumstances underlying the judgement debt of 53 million dollars resulting from the Paris Club refund.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a short ruling on Tuesday, gave Emefiele another opportunity to appear in court in person or an arrest warrant issued against the ex-CBN governor.

The event came about as a result of Emefiele and CBN’s attorney, Audu Anuga, SAN, pleading that since his client was still in detention, all attempts to make sure he appeared in person as ordered by the court had failed.

Anuga notified the court that on October 30, an affidavit to show cause was filed, explaining why Emefiele should not have an arrest warrant issued. Then, Justice Ekwo questioned I.A. Nnana, the attorney for Joe Agi, SAN, the judgement creditor/applicant in the case, on whether or not he had received the affidavit.

Read Also: EFCC arrests, detains Emefiele after DSS frees ex-CBN governor

Nnana responded that they were served on Monday, almost at the close of work and that they would like to react. The judge, who cautioned Anuga against late filing of processes, reminded that the matter came up on July 19.

The senior lawyer, however, explained that all efforts were made until Friday (October 27) to ensure that Emefiele was released on order of the court but the order was not complied with, which necessitated the filing of the affidavit.

Anuga, however, told the court that since parties had been exploring settlement before and the CBN had a new governor, they should be allowed to explore settlement option. But Justice Ekwo insisted that Emefiele must appear in the next adjourned day.

“As for the 4th respondent (Emefiele), I have always said, contempt proceedings follow a person whether the person Is still there or not.

“In this case, I have given this particular person so much liberty, so much leniency and the situation does not seem to change.

“I will adjourn the matter because the other side says they want to react to the process so there is no much talk.

“Order of court must be complied with and even if no one complies with the order of the court, the court must comply with its order.

“I will give you sufficient time,” he said.

The judge, consequently, adjourned the matter until January 25 for Emefiele to show cause why arrest warrant should not be issued against him.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now