EFCC Sets New Date to Arraign Former CBN Governor, Emefiele, Others

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is poised to bring Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), before the Ikeja State High Court in Lagos on Monday.

Emefiele, along with Henry Isioma Omole, is facing a 26-count indictment for purportedly abusing his office by improperly allocating billions in U.S. dollars.

The legal proceedings, led by Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), are scheduled to commence on Monday, with Justice Rahman Oshodi presiding. According to the charges filed on April 3, 2024, Emefiele is accused of engaging in actions between 2022 and 2023 that were deemed an abuse of his authoritative capacity at the CBN.

The core of the EFCC’s allegations centers on Emefiele’s direction of foreign exchange allocations amounting to over $2 billion without adhering to the bidding process, a move considered detrimental to the rights of Nigerian citizens. Furthermore, separate counts detail allocations of foreign exchange in 2020 and 2021, totaling approximately $292 million, and a special allocation of about $1.77 billion in 2021, all purportedly done without bids and prejudicial to Nigerians’ rights.

Emefiele’s co-defendant, Omole, is implicated in a related charge where, on November 17, 2020, he allegedly accepted a $110,000 gift on Emefiele’s behalf as a quid pro quo for favorably allocating foreign exchange through the CBN to benefit the employer of Raja Punjab.