EFCC sets to arraign Emefiele alongside co-defendant Omole on a fresh 26-count charge

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will on Monday 8th of April, 2024 arraign the embattled ex-CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele alongside his co-defendant, Henry Isioma Omole.

At the Ikeja State High Court in Lagos, the duo is scheduled to appear before Justice Rahman Oshodi in a fresh 26-count charge for alleged abuse of office over allocation of billions of dollars.

In a file charged ID/23787c/2024, dated April 3, 2024, as filed by Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), the anti-graft agency alleged that Emefiele committed an abuse of office in 2022 and 2023 in Lagos.

The EFCC further alleged that Emefiele “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $2,136,391,737.33 without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.”

Furthermore, allegedly, Emefiele between 2020 and 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary, act to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $291,945,785.59, without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.

Emefiele was alleged to have, in 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: special allocation of foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $1,769,254,793.16, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians.”

According to media reports, in count four, the sum involved was $370,872,893.01.

Emefiele’s co-defendant Omoile  was alleged to have November 17, 2020, in Lagos, whilst acting as an agent accepted from Raja Punjab through Monday Osazuwa, the total sum of $110,000, for Godwin Ifeanyi Emefiele, gifts as a reward for allocating foreign exchange by the Central Bank in favour of Raja Punjab’s employer.”

Having contravened Section 73 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, Emefiele and Omole will be arraigned on Monday in Lagos High Court.

Meanwhile, the President, Bola Tinubu has in a statement titled ‘President Tinubu thanks Jim Obazee as a special investigator of the CBN after the investigation,’ thanked Jim Obazee, the special investigator appointed on 30th of July 2023 for a job well done.

In part, the statement reads:

“Subsequent to the conclusion of the assignment and the submission of a final comprehensive report, and with the winding up of all apparatuses used during the scope of the task which terminated on March 31, 2024, the investigation is formally closed,” a statement released by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale.

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Mayowa Durosinmi

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