The High Court sitting in the Federal Capital Territory has ordered the remand of former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele in the Kuje Correctional Centre pending the determination of his bail request.
Emefiele is standing trial on an alleged procurement fraud.
The trial which had been stalled on three different times finally held on Friday.
Recall that the Federal Government had preferred 20 charges bordering on procurement fraud, amounting to N6.5 billion against the former CBN governor.
But the Federal Government reduced the charges to six to the tune of over N1bn which Emefiele was arraigned on Friday.
At the proceedings, Emefiele’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa SAN, moved the application for bail but the Federal Government’s counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo outrightly opposed granting bail to the former CBN governor.
The presiding judge, Justice Hamza Muazu said that a bench ruling could not be delivered in view of the excessive authorities cited by the two parties.
Muazu said that he needed more time to study the authorities and peruse through the exhibits supplied by Emefiele to support his request for bail.
To this end, he ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the Kuje prison pending the determination of his bail application.
The judge however adjourned the case till November 22 for ruling on the bail application and November 28 for the commencement of trial.
Emefiele’s remand order comes after Justice Olukayode Adeniyi had ordered that he should be released to his lawyers on November 8 after spending 151 days in detention.
News Flash