just in: At last! Court grants former CBN boss, Godwin Emefiele bail

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday granted bail to the detained Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.

The court, in a pronouncement that was delivered by Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, ordered that he be released to his lawyers.

“There must be an end to detention without trial” the judge held, adding that it was the refusal of the Economic and Financial and Crimes Commission, EFCC, to adhere to the order the court made on November 2, that led to the ruling.

“A very crucial fact that this court cannot overlook is the Applicant’s claim that he has been incarcerated for a period of upward of 151 days without trial,” Justice Adeniyi added.

It ruled that his counsel must produce him in court on November 15 for his scheduled arraignment or on any other day on which he is obligated to appear.

Justice Adeniyi ordered Emefiele to surrender all international documents to the court’s most senior registrar pending his preliminary hearing.

The court adjourned further proceedings in the matter until November 17.

The order to release the former CBN boss followed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed through his team of lawyers led by Mr Matthew Burkaa, SAN.

Emefiele, who was suspended from office on June 9 as the head of the apex bank, was later arrested at his Lagos residence by the Department of State Services (DSS).

He has been in detention for the past five months as he faced a two-count charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition before the Federal High Court in Lagos, as well as a 20-count corruption charge that the Federal Government entered against him and two others before an Abuja High Court sitting at Maitama.