A federal high court in Lagos has granted bail to Godwin Emefiele, suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in the sum of N20 million.
The bail application was filed by Emefiele’s lawyers led by Mr. J. B. Dauda SAN.
Dauda prayed the court to grant the banker bail on self recognizance, noting that his client had fulfilled all the conditions necessary to make the application ripe for hearing.
He noted further that the proof of service endorsed by the AGF’s office was in the court’s file.
Dauda urged the court to end the oppression of his client by the Department of State Security (DSS) which arrested him and hear the bail application.
“There should be an end to oppression,” he said.
But the government’s lawyer, a Deputy Director of Prosecution (DDPP), told Justice Nicholas Oweibo that she had “not been given the bail application. As I stand here, I have not set eyes on it.”
But in a ruling on Tuesday, Nicholas Oweibo, the presiding judge, said the charges against Emefiele are bailable.
Emefiele is standing trial on a two-count charge which accuses him of possessing a single-barrel shotgun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without a licence on June 15 at Ikoyi.
The Federal Government, which is prosecuting him, maintained that the offence was contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Act, 2004, and punishable under Section 27 (1b) of the same Act.
In the second count, the suspended CBN Governor was accused of having in his possession 123 rounds of live ammunition (Cartridges) without a licence, which was contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1)(b)(il) of the same Act.
