The Nigerian government has filed a fresh application, seeking leave to appeal the July 25 order in which Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos granted bail to the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele.
The application was dated August 3, 2023.
This is as the legal battle over Emefiele’s custody resumes on Thursday (today) at the Federal High Court in Lagos.
But the President Bola Tinubu-led Nigerian Government which filed its application through a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Nkiru Jones-Nebo, also asked the court to stay execution on the order remanding Emefiele in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS).
It appealed to the court to instead order that Emefiele should be remanded in the custody of the Department of State Service (DSS).
The vacation judge, Justice Oweibo, on July 25, granted Emefiele N20 million bail on two counts bordering on illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
The judge ordered that Emefiele should be remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions, but drama ensued when the DSS rearrested him on the court premises after fighting off NCoS officials.
However, Emefiele also filed an application on August 8, asking the court to stop the Nigerian Government from further prosecuting him on the charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition or any other charge, The Nation reports.
Emefiele in the application filed through his team led by Joseph Daudu (SAN) is also seeking an order of the court discharging him of all charges brought against him by the government, claiming it is in “brazen disobedience” of the subsisting orders of the court granting him bail on July 25, 2023.
The suspended CBN boss also asked the court for an order prohibiting the Nigerian Government from continuing to enjoy any form of indulgence from the courts except and unless it complies with the bail ruling.
The application was filed under Section 6(6)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), relevant sections of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 and under the inherent powers of the court.
He also prayed the court to stay further proceedings in the present charge until he exhausts all the remedies available to him in law to compel the government and the DSS to obey the order of the court admitting him to bail or remanding him in the custody of the Nigerian Correctional Centre until he perfects his bail terms.
Emefiele’s application which was served on the Nigerian government on Thursday seeks to invoke the jurisdiction of the court to enforce its orders so as not to be seen “as a toothless bulldog or paper tiger.”
The applicant also argued that the processes seek to preserve and protect the “efficacy, majesty and integrity of the court as well as the rule of law in our democracy.”
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