Justice Ekwo erred, caused miscarriage of justice, CBN’s Emefiele reacts to court summon

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has said Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja erred in his order to summon him.

Emefiele challenged the judge through an appeal filed by his counsel, Damien Dodo (SAN) on January 13, 2023, according to multiple media reports on Thursday, stating that the mistake caused a miscarriage of justice.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that Emefiele was summoned by Justice Ekwo, demanding he appear before the court on Wednesday to explain the delay in effecting the $53 million judgment debt in favour of Joe Agi (SAN).

The judge had made his orders relating to the initial case of suit NO: FHC/ABJ/CS/1193/2017 filed by Joe Agi (SAN) against Linas International Ltd, the Minister of Finance and the central bank for a judgement sum of $70 million.

Agi has been paid $15 million of the judgement debt, but the central bank has yet to complete the payment of the total amount, prompting the judge to demand the appearance of Emefiele.

However, his appearance at the court was adjourned to March 20, 2023, by the judge without any reason given.

READ ALSO:Court sets new appearance date for Emefiele in $53m judgement debt case

It has now been revealed that days before his scheduled appearance on Wednesday, Emefiele filed an appeal challenging the jurisdiction of the high court on the case.

While challenging the jurisdiction, Emefiele in his appeal, said the CBN had appealed against the judgement debt order at the Court of Appeal through appeals marked CA/A/476/2018 between CBN V Joe Agi (SAN), and two others and CA/A/23/2020 between CBN V Joe Agi (SAN) and two others.

Emefiele, through his lawyer, Dodo, said because of the CBN’s appeal at the Court of Appeal, Justice Ekwo summoning the apex bank boss means the judge is exercising concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Appeal over the same subject matter.

Amongst other issues raised in his appeal at the appellate court, Emefiele questioned why the judge will order him to appear before the high court without ruling on his application challenging the jurisdiction of the court.

He asked that the orders made by the Federal High Court be set aside for his appeals to be heard.

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