Court sets date for Emefiele indictment
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday (July 25) set the indictment of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, for unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
The State Security Service (SSS), which has held Mr. Emefiele in custody since June 10, filed a complaint Thursday, July 13, the same day a Federal Capital Territory High Court judge in Abuja gave the agency a one-week ultimatum to either charge him in court or release him.
The SSS had held Mr. Emefiele for over a month without charge until the July 13 decision
Trial Judge Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, has set July 25 for arraignment after he was assigned the case.
Channels Television reports that one of Mr Emefiele's lawyers, Victor Opara, a Senior Nigeria (SAN) Solicitor, confirmed that the defense team had received the Notice of Indictment Hearing.
Mr. Emefiele's defense team has been led by a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu, an SAN, in the major cases he has filed since his arrest.
In the newly filed case, the agency charged Mr. Emefiele with possessing a single-barrel shotgun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without a license, an offense found to be contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Act and punishable under Section 27(1b) of the same Act.
In count two, the SSS charged him with unlawful possession of 23 rounds of live ammunition (cartridges) without a license. The offense would also be contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act and punishable under Section 27(1)(b)(il) of the same Act.
Declassified loadsThe charges are a downgrade of far more serious terrorist financing and economic sabotage allegations that the SSS had previously leveled against the suspended CBN governor.
In a desperate move to obtain an arrest warrant, the SSS had sworn in December 2022 that Mr Emefiele was sponsoring the banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
In a series of weighty allegations, the SSS accused him of sabotaging the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, financing terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism, and committing other economic crimes to undermine Nigeria's national security.
The agency also accused Mr. Emefiele of mishandling CBN subsidiary NISRAL and the central bank's Anchor Borrowers program.
The Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho, who heard the SSS's motion for a warrant of arrest against Mr. Emefiele, had dismissed the motion on the grounds of procedural error.
The agency took no further action until Mr. Emefiele was suspended on June 9 by the new president, Bola Tinubu.
The SSS filed the lightest charges after more than a month of detention of Mr. Emefiele. But it's unclear whether the agency plans to file additional charges against him.
Many Nigerians expressed disappointment with the SSS over the nature of the charges against Mr. Emefiele after he went to town with more egregious allegations against him.
The Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday (July 25) set the indictment of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, for unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition.
The State Security Service (SSS), which has held Mr. Emefiele in custody since June 10, filed a complaint Thursday, July 13, the same day a Federal Capital Territory High Court judge in Abuja gave the agency a one-week ultimatum to either charge him in court or release him.
The SSS had held Mr. Emefiele for over a month without charge until the July 13 decision
Trial Judge Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court, Lagos Division, has set July 25 for arraignment after he was assigned the case.
Channels Television reports that one of Mr Emefiele's lawyers, Victor Opara, a Senior Nigeria (SAN) Solicitor, confirmed that the defense team had received the Notice of Indictment Hearing.
Mr. Emefiele's defense team has been led by a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu, an SAN, in the major cases he has filed since his arrest.
In the newly filed case, the agency charged Mr. Emefiele with possessing a single-barrel shotgun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without a license, an offense found to be contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Act and punishable under Section 27(1b) of the same Act.
In count two, the SSS charged him with unlawful possession of 23 rounds of live ammunition (cartridges) without a license. The offense would also be contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act and punishable under Section 27(1)(b)(il) of the same Act.
Declassified loadsThe charges are a downgrade of far more serious terrorist financing and economic sabotage allegations that the SSS had previously leveled against the suspended CBN governor.
In a desperate move to obtain an arrest warrant, the SSS had sworn in December 2022 that Mr Emefiele was sponsoring the banned Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
In a series of weighty allegations, the SSS accused him of sabotaging the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, financing terrorism, aiding and abetting terrorism, and committing other economic crimes to undermine Nigeria's national security.
The agency also accused Mr. Emefiele of mishandling CBN subsidiary NISRAL and the central bank's Anchor Borrowers program.
The Chief Justice of the Federal High Court, John Tsoho, who heard the SSS's motion for a warrant of arrest against Mr. Emefiele, had dismissed the motion on the grounds of procedural error.
The agency took no further action until Mr. Emefiele was suspended on June 9 by the new president, Bola Tinubu.
The SSS filed the lightest charges after more than a month of detention of Mr. Emefiele. But it's unclear whether the agency plans to file additional charges against him.
Many Nigerians expressed disappointment with the SSS over the nature of the charges against Mr. Emefiele after he went to town with more egregious allegations against him.
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