Court instructs EFCC to free Emefiele without delay

In a Monday ruling, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, located in Maitama, Abuja, reaffirmed his previous directive to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to either promptly release Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), or bring him before the court to be granted bail.

The judge issued the order on November 2 and postponed the hearing until today in order to allow Emefiele to enforce her fundamental rights.

The beleaguered former governor of CBN had joined the Federal Government, the anti-corruption commission, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), and the Executive Chairman of the EFCC as respondents in the action.

Nevertheless, Emefiele’s attorney, Mathew Burkaa SAN, told the court during the case’s reopened hearing that the third and fourth respondents had not yet complied with the court’s directive.

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The senior lawyer stated that the applicant had been under the respondents’ custody for 149 days as of today.

Farouk Abdullah, the third and fourth respondents’ attorney, attested to the court that his clients had received the court order.

He informed the court that they had received the applicant’s processes and that, although he would have liked to reply to correct the record, he was unable to do so since the processes were not complete.

He claimed that the affidavit submitted by the petitioner demonstrated that some exhibits that were mentioned, specifically Exhibit B, which he said was included in the affidavit’s Paragraph 20, were not attached.