A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Wednesday, threatened to issue a warrant of arrest against the suspended Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over his failure to appear in court to explain circumstances surrounding the $53 million judgment debt arising from the Paris Club refund.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, who ordered Emefiele to appear on the next adjourned date, said he was minded to exercise restraint in the proceeding to give the ex-CBN boss an opportunity to explain himself in the matter.
Emefiele’s counsel, Audu Anuga (SAN) had prayed the court to give his client another opportunity due to the fact that they had been unable to reach him since the last order, directing him to appear in court.
Anuga told the court that Emefiele, who was suspended as CBN governor, had been in detention and that, all efforts to reach him to communicate the directive of the court to him were unsuccessful.
It be recalled that Justice Ekwo had, on October 20, 2022, ordered the CBN governor to appear in court on January 18 over his alleged refusal to obey the order of the court for the payment of the judgment debt in favour of a legal practitioner, Joe Agi (SAN).
Agi had dragged Linas International Ltd, Minister of Finance, CBN and Emefiele to court as 1st to 4th judgment debtors respectively, following an application for garnishee made by him as judgment creditor in the case.
The January 18, proceedings could not hold as scheduled when the matter was called, prompting the court to subsequently adjourned the case till March 20, before it was fixed for June 6 again.
On June 6, the court ordered Emefiele to appear before it on Wednesday, July 19 over the matter.
