EFCC to arraign Emefiele on new charge, alleges printing N684.5m notes with N18.9bn

Godwin Emefiele, the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is scheduled to be charged by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for authorizing the manufacture of N684.5 million notes at a cost of N18.96 billion.

The EFCC accused Emefiele of violating the law with the intention of harming the public when he carried out the former President Muhammadu Buhari’s naira exchange program in a new four-count allegation brought against him.

Emefiele was also charged by the anti-graft agency with illegally authorizing the removal of N124.8 billion from the Federation’s Consolidated Revenue Fund.

The former CBN governor will now be facing three counts following this arraignment.
Emefiele was brought before Justice Hamza Muazu on November 17, 2023, and entered a not guilty plea to a six-count accusation of procurement fraud.

Additionally, he was charged with misusing his position of authority by authorizing a deal for the purchase of 43 cars between 2018 and 2020 for a total of N1.2 billion.

The former banker and a man named Henry Omoile were charged by the EFCC on April 8, 2024, for allegedly committing a $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion fraud before Judge Rahman Oshodi of the Special Offenses Court in Ikeja, Lagos.

Also, he entered a not guilty plea to the accusation.

Along with eight other attorneys working for the Attorney General of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, Senior Advocate of Nigeria and prosecutor for the EFFC, submitted the fresh charge on April 2, 2024.

“STATEMENT OF OFFENCE: Public Servant disobeying direction of law with intent to cause injury to the public contrary to and punishable under Section 123 of the Penal Code Law, Cap. 89 Laws of the Federation, 1990” is what counts one through four of the charge state.

“PARTICULARS OF THE OFFENCE: That you, GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE, between the 19th day of October 2022 and 5th March 2023 in Abuja, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007, by approving the printing of N375,520,000.00 pieces of color swapped N1, 000, at the total cost of N11,052, 068,062 without the recommendation of the Board of Central Bank and the strict approval of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, whose conduct caused injury to the public, and you thereby committed an offense.”

COUNT 2: “That you, GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE, between the 19th of October 2022 and the 5th March 2023 in Abuja, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 19 of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, 2007, by approving the printing of 172,000,000 pieces of color swapped N500 (five hundred naira) notes at the total cost of N4, 471,066,040 without the recommendation of the Board of the Central Bank and the strict approval of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, whose conduct caused injury to the public, and you thereby committed an offense.

COUNT 3: “That you, GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE, between the 19th day of October 2022 and 5th March 2023 in Abuja, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 19 of the CBN Act, 2007, by approving the printing of 137,070,000 pieces of color swapped N200 (two hundred naira) note at the total cost of N3, 441, 005, 280, without the recommendation of the Board of Central Bank and the strict approval of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, whose conduct caused injury to the public and you thereby committed an offense.”

COUNT 4: “That you, GODWIN IFEANYI EMEFIELE, on or about the 7th day of October 2020, in Abuja, within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court, knowingly disobeyed the direction of Section 80 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As Amended), by approving the withdrawal of the total sum of N124, 860, 227, 865.16 from the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Federation in a manner not prescribed by the National Assembly, whose conduct caused injury to the public, and you thereby committed an offense.”