Tuesday saw another delay in the anticipated new arraignment of suspended CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele before the Maitama-based High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, or FCT.
The Federal Government filed a 20-count corruption indictment before the court, but neither Emefiele nor his co-defendant, Mrs. Saadat Yaro, were present for the proceedings.
Emefiele’s case was not on the court’s cause list, even though trial Justice Hamza Muazu, who is serving as the vacation judge, was there.
The case could not proceed as scheduled, the court officer who talked to Vanguard stated, “due to fresh developments in the matter.”
“My lord had to postpone the arraignment due to the events. All parties will be informed of a new return date, the official continued.
In the meantime, signs suggested on Tuesday that the troubled suspended CBN governor would be looking at a plea agreement with FG.
The move to settle the issue outside of court was at the request of the former CBN chief, according to one of the defence attorneys in the case who dropped the hint to newsmen.
“The parties are in negotiations, so maybe a trial won’t be necessary. A plea agreement is something we are looking into. We have requested at least two weeks from the court, the attorney continued.
While Mr. Kehinde Akinlolu, SAN, Emefiele’s attorney, acknowledged that the scheduled arraignment of his client would not go on, he was however silent on the plea bargain issue.
He said that Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf, the Chief Judge of the Supreme Court, might set the new trial date.
In criminal proceedings, a plea bargain is a negotiated agreement of settlement that enables the defendant to admit guilt to a lower offence or charge in exchange for a less sentence or the charges being dropped.
The trial court subsequently accepts the terms of the plea deal reached between the prosecution and the defendant and uses them as the basis for its decision.
Sections 270(1) and (2) of the 2015 Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) permit such arrangements.
It will be recalled that on August 17, Emefiele’s arraignment was similarly delayed due to the absence of the second defendant, Mrs. Yaro, who is a staff of the apex bank.
Mrs. Yaro fell ill, which was reported to the court by Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecution of the Federation, who is prosecuting the matter on behalf of the Federal Government.
The third defendant in the indictment, which includes allegations of conspiracy, procurement fraud, and that the suspended CBN governor granted benefits to himself and his colleagues through corruption, was listed as a firm called April 1616 Investment Limited.
In particular, FG claimed that Emefiele had given contracts to the company with Mrs. Yaro, a bank employee, as its Director when he was in charge of the top bank.
According to the complaint, the deal called for the acquisition of over 98 exotic cars and armoured buses, totaling over 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.
The CBN Director of Procurement, Stanley Alvan, the bank’s Head of Procurement, Mike Agboro, Tahir Jafar, and David Usman, as well as bank executives, were all called as witnesses in the case.
The defendants were accused of acting in violation of a number of the Corrupt Practises and Other Related Offences Act, 2000, provisions.
A day after President Bola Tinubu dismissed Emefiele from his position as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, DSS agents detained him at his home in Lagos’ Ikoyi neighbourhood.
On July 25, he was subsequently charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition on two counts and hauled before the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Despite the fact that Emefiele was given bail in the amount of N20,000,000 with one surety in the like sum, however, 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.
Following the withdrawal and dismissal of the initial charge against Emefiele, he was later flown to Abuja to take part in the current case.