Justice Adegbola Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory High Court has ordered the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to release the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, with immediate effect.
The judge gave the order on Thursday after Emefiele filed a Motion Ex-parte, seeking his release from the custody of the EFCC pending the determination of his fundamental right enforcement suit.
The Federal Government of Nigeria, together with the Attorney General of the Federation, the EFCC, and its chairman, Ola Olukoyede, are listed as defendants in the suit marked FCT/HC/CV/040/2023/M/122/2023.
The court also gave the EFCC an alternative: to produce Emefiele in court on Monday, November 6, 2023, which is the date fixed for the hearing of the substantive Motion on Notice.
The judge, in his ruling, said, “The third and fourth respondents are hereby ordered to unconditionally release the applicant from detention forthwith, or in the alternative, produce him in court on the date fixed for the hearing of the substantive motion on notice for the purpose of being admitted to bail by the court.
“It is hereby further ordered that the motion on notice shall be heard on November 11, 2023. The instant order, together with the Motion on Notice, shall be served on the respondents on Thursday, November 2, 2023.”
News About Nigeria had reported that the anti-graft agency arrested Emefiele on October 27, 2023, immediately after he was released from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), where he had been detained since June 10, 2023.
Recall that Emefiele was arrested by the DSS in June after President Bola Tinubu ordered his suspension as Governor of the Apex bank.
