The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, was on Tuesday granted bail in the sum of N20 million with one surety in like sum by the Federal High Court in Lagos.
He was granted bail after pleading not guilty to the two counts bordering on the alleged illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court also dismissed the Federal Government’s claim that it had not received a copy of the bail application filed by the suspended CBN Governor in his alleged gun possession trial.
Nicholas held that there was evidence that the government was served.
The bail application was filed by Emefiele’s lawyers led by Mr. J. B. Dauda SAN.
Dauda had prayed the court to hear the banker’s application seeking bail on self-recognizance, noting that his client had fulfilled all the conditions necessary to make the application ripe for hearing.
He noted further that the proof of service endorsed by the AGF’s office was in the court’s file.
Dauda also urged the court to end the oppression of his client by the Department of State Security (DSS) which arrested him and hear the bail application.
“There should be an end to oppression,” he said.
But the government’s lawyer, a Deputy Director of Prosecution (DDPP), told Justice Nicholas Oweibo that she had “not been given the bail application. As I stand here, I have not set eyes on it.”
Emefiele is standing trial on a two-count charge which accuses him of possessing a single-barrel shotgun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without a licence on June 15 at Ikoyi.
The Federal Government, which is prosecuting him, maintained that the offence was contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Act, 2004, and punishable under Section 27 (1b) of the same Act.
In the second count, the suspended CBN Governor was accused of having in his possession 123 rounds of live ammunition (Cartridges) without a licence, which was contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1)(b)(il) of the same Act.
