A former governor, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, on Tuesday prayed an Abuja High Court to foreclose the prosecution in his ongoing trial over alleged procurement fraud.
Emefiele is standing trial before Justice Hamza Muazu, in a suit filed by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation. in the case, marked CR/577/2023, on an amended 20-count charge.
The federal government charged Emefiele with criminal breach of trust, conferring corrupt advantage, forgery, conspiracy to obtain by false pretence and obtaining money by false pretence while he was CBN governor.
He was alleged to have used his position as CBN governor to award six different contracts for the supply of different vehicles to April 1616 in which one Sa’adatu Ramalan Yaro, a member of staff of CBN is a director and shareholder, between 2018 and 2022 to the tune of N1,210,600,000, among others allegations.
Emefiele, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
At the resumed hearing of the case , Emefiele’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa SAN, urged the court to foreclose the prosecution .
The request, he said, was due to the failure of the prosecution to be present in court having known of the adjourned date.
Burkaa told the court that the matter was slated for continuation of hearing but the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, was not in court and did not send a representative.
