A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over his failure to appear in court to explain circumstances surrounding the 53 million dollar-judgment debt arising from the Paris Club refund.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, who ordered Emefiele to appear on the next adjourned date, said he was minded to exercise restraint in the proceeding to give the ex-CBN boss an opportunity to explain himself.
The development followed an intervention by Emefiele’s Counsel, Audu Anuga, SAN, praying the court to give his client another opportunity as they had been unable to reach him since the last order, directing him to appear in court.
Anuga told the court that Emefiele, who was suspended as CBN governor, had been in detention.
He said all efforts to reach him to communicate the directive of the court were unsuccessful.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Justice Ekwo had, on October 20, 2022 ordered the CBN governor to appear in court on January 18 over his alleged refusal to obey the order of the court for the payment of the judgment debt in favour of a legal practitioner, Joe Agi, SAN.
Agi had dragged Linas International Ltd, Minister of Finance, CBN and Emefiele to court as 1st to 4th judgment debtors respectively, following an application for garnishee made by him as judgment creditor in the case.
However, on January 18 proceedings could not go on as scheduled when the matter was called, prompting the court to subsequently adjourn the case till March 20, before it was fixed for June 6 again.
NAN reports that the judge, on June 6, ordered Emefiele to appear before it on July 19 (yesterday). But the CBN Governor was on June 9 suspended by President Bola Tinubu and directed to transfer his responsibilities to the Deputy Governor, operations directorate.
No sooner had Emefiele been suspended than the Department of State Services (DSS) on June 10, announced his arrest and detention.
Credit: dailypost.ng
