A former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday prayed an Abuja High Court to dismiss the prosecution in his ongoing trial over alleged procurement fraud.
Emefiele is standing trial before Justice Hamza Muazu, in a suit filed by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, in the case marked CR/577/2023, on an amended 20-count charge.
The federal government charged Emefiele with criminal breach of trust, conferring corrupt advantage, forgery, conspiracy to obtain by false pretences, and obtaining money by false pretences while he was the CBN governor.
He was alleged to have used his position as CBN governor to award six different contracts for the supply of different vehicles to April 1616, in which one Sa’adatu Ramalan Yaro, a member of staff of CBN, is a director and shareholder, between 2018 and 2022 to the tune of N1,210,600,000, among other allegations.
Emefiele, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
At the resumed hearing of the case, Emefiele’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa, SAN, urged the court to dismiss the prosecution.
The request, he said, was due to the failure of the prosecution to be present in court, having known of the adjourned date.
Burkaa told the court that the matter was slated for continuation of the hearing, but the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, was not in court and did not send a representative.
He added that he was informed by the court registrar on Monday through a WhatsApp message that a letter had been sent seeking an adjournment by the prosecution.
He told the court that the application he was shown in the court was sent by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
According to him, the charge before the court was brought by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, and he wondered why EFCC applied for an adjournment of the matter.
While opposing the application for adjournment, he wondered why none of the lawyers involved alongside Oyedepo could be in court for the matter to proceed.
He added that the prosecution asked for an accelerated hearing of the case.
He further told the court that Emefiele and his lawyers were coming from Lagos to attend the trial.
Burkaa, therefore, urged the court to foreclose the prosecution as there was no application from the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation for adjournment.
After listening to the counsel, Justice Muazu said the court would give the prosecution one last opportunity.
He added that the court would take the necessary steps should the prosecution fail to appear in court on the next adjourned date.
He, therefore, adjourned until October 22 for the continuation of the hearing.
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