The Federal High Court in Lagos has fixed August 15th for hearing the application of the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, praying the Federal Government through the Department of State Service stops his trial. More so, the Court will also entertain the application tendered by the Nigeria secret police seeking to appeal the N20m bail granted to Emefiele by the court. The judge, Justice Nicholas Oweibo fixed the date to enable the defence to reply to the prosecution’s further counter affidavit, which was served on the defence in court just before proceedings began.
Ruling on whether the applications were ripe for hearing, the judge held that the application of the prosecution has been concluded and was ripe for hearing but since the defence had not responded to the further counter affidavit served on them in court, it would be best for the applications to be taken jointly in one day.
In a fresh Motion on Notice, Emefiele, who has been in the DSS detention since June 10, is urging the court to quash the illegal firearms charges filed against him by the DSS and set him free.
His lawyer, Joseph Daudu (SAN), argued that the DSS could not continue to prosecute Emefiele while it had refused to obey the court order admitting him to bail. “The complainant, having brazenly defied the orders of court made on July 25, is in contempt of the proceedings of the court.
“Until the complainant complies with the afore-described subsisting orders of the court, it cannot continue to lawfully prosecute the charge neither can it be afforded any right of audience in any court in Nigeria,” Daudu said.
He, therefore, prayed for a court order “prohibiting the complainant from further prosecuting the instant charge or any other charge against the applicant or seeking any form of indulgence before the court, inclusive of the application to grant leave to appeal against the order granting the appellant bail and other ancillary orders.”
He urged the court to make “an order discharging the defendant/appellant from the instant charge, which cannot be lawfully prosecuted by the complainant who is in brazen disobedience of subsisting orders of the court made on July 25, 2023.”