There were hints on Wednesday that Godwin Emefiele, the embattled suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), might be looking into a plea agreement with the Federal Government.
This is despite the fact that his planned new arraignment before the Federal Capital Territory’s (FCT) High Court, located in Maitama, Abuja, was once again postponed on Wednesday.
Emefiele was not present for the hearing, nor was his co-defendant, Saadat Yaro, in relation to the 20-count corruption charge the Federal Government brought before the court.
Even with trial Judge Hamza Muazu, the vacationing judge, in attendance, Emefiele’s case was not on the court’s cause list.
An official of the court reported that the case could not proceed as planned “due to fresh developments in the matter.”
“Because of the developments, my lord had to suspend the arraignment. A new return date will be communicated to all the parties,” the official added.
Meanwhile, one of the defence lawyers in the matter, who dropped a hint of the plea bargain to newsmen, said the move to settle the case out-of-court was at the instance of the erstwhile CBN boss.
“The parties are in talks, and hopefully the matter will not proceed to trial. We are exploring a plea bargain arrangement. We have asked the court to give us at least two weeks,” the lawyer added.
Whereas Emefiele’s lawyer, Kehinde Akinlolu, SAN, confirmed that the scheduled arraignment of his client would not go on, he was silent on the plea bargain issue.
He said that Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, the Chief Judge of the High Court, would probably announce the new trial date.
A plea bargain is a negotiated settlement agreement in criminal trials that permits a defendant to enter a guilty plea to a less serious offence or charge in exchange for a sentence reduction or the charges being dropped.
The trial court subsequently adopts the terms of the agreement as its ruling in the case after accepting the terms of the agreement between the prosecution and the defendant.
The Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, 2015, sections 270(1) and (2) permit such an arrangement.
Emefiele’s arraignment was also postponed on August 17 due to the absence of the second defendant, Yaro, who works for the apex bank.
Mohammed Abubakar, the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, who is prosecuting the case for the Federal Government, informed the court that Yaro had fallen ill.
A company, April 1616 Investment Limited, was named as the third defendant in the charge, which alleges conspiracy, procurement fraud, and that the suspended CBN governor conferred corrupt benefits on himself and his associates.
Specifically, the Federal Government claimed that Emefiele awarded contracts to a company that had Yaro, a bank employee, as its Director while he was the head of the apex bank.
It claimed that the contract included the purchase of over 98 exotic vehicles and armoured buses worth N6.9 billion.
The prosecution told the court that some of the items the defendants bought between 2018 and 2020 included 84 Toyota Hilux vehicles, 10 armoured Mercedes Benz buses, three Toyota Landcruisers, and one Toyota Avalon car.
Among those listed to testify in the matter were the Director of Procurement at the CBN, Stanley Alvan; the Head of Procurement at the bank, Mike Agboro; Tahir Jafar; and David Usman, as well as bank officials.
The defendants were said to have acted in breach of various provisions of the Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
Operatives of the DSS arrested Emefiele at his Ikoyi residence in Lagos a day after he was suspended as the governor of the CBN by President Bola Tinubu.
He was subsequently arraigned before the Federal High Court in Lagos on July 25 on a two-count charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Though the court granted Emefiele bail to the tune of N20 million with one surety in the same sum, he could not regain his freedom as the DSS re-arrested him within the court premises in an operation that led its agents to violently manhandle a senior prison official.
Emefiele was later flown to Abuja to face the current case after the previous charge against him was dropped and dismissed.
Meanwhile, in a related development, Justice E. Okpe of the FCT High Court dismissed two separate cases filed by Emefiele’s siblings, George and Okanta, against the Department of State Services, DSS, on Tuesday.
The two had asked the court for a perpetual injunction to prevent the security agency from inviting, intimidating, harassing, arresting, or detaining them in connection with the case against their brother.
The Applicants’ attorney, Grace Ehusani, informed the court that his clients had filed a notice to discontinue the case when the matter’s proceedings were taken back up.
Though the DSS, through its lawyer, Ibrahim Awo, did not oppose the Applicants’ request, it urged the court to dismiss the suits with substantial costs.
Likewise, counsel to the Attorney-General of the Federation, Maimuma Lami-Sheru, equally demanded that N2 million be awarded to the Applicants.
In his ruling, Justice Okpe dismissed the case, though he declined to award costs against them. The vacation judge dismissed the cases and ordered that no costs be paid by the Applicants.
