* Gets 72 hours to perfect bail 

Alex Enumah in Abuja 

A former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, on Monday pleaded not guilty to an alleged charge of unlawful obtainment of an Abuja property containing 753 housing units.

Emefiele pleaded not guilty to the entire eight-count charge, which included fraud and forgery, filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Following his not guilty plea, the prosecution counsel, Mr Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), urged the court for an accelerated hearing of the matter in pursuit of the EFCC’s establishment Act to avoid unnecessary delays.

While he sought a date for commencement of trial, he prayed that Emefiele be remanded in custody of the correctional centre.

Responding, Emefiele’s lawyer, Mr Mathew Burkaa (SAN), informed the court that he has filed for the bail of the defendant on June 13, adding that since the prosecution did not file any counter affidavit, it is presumed that he was not opposed to the grant of the bail application.

He drew the court’s attention to the fact that the defendant is already being tried by the prosecution in three other matters and this is the fourth, adding that Emefiele was granted bail in the three matters.

Delivering ruling, trial judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu, held that bail is constitutional and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven otherwise.

Justice Halilu, who observed that the highest offence in the land is treasonable felony, noted that the court had on several occasions admitted defendants to bail.

“I have seen the charge filed against the defendant. Although the defendant did not file counter, he however raised some concerns in some parts of the affidavit in support of the application and those issues are hereby struck out,” the judge held.

In granting Emefiele bail, the judge also recognized that Emefiele did not jump the bail granted by Justice Maryanne Anenih and Justice Hamza Muazu.

As part of conditions attached to the new bail, Justice Halilu said that the defendant’s travel documents already before Justice Muaza are attached, provide two sureties who must own landed property within the jurisdiction of the court worth N2 billion.

The sureties in addition must sign an undertaking to always ensure Emefiele is in court during the trial and will be jailed if the defendant jumps bail or forfeit the property.

Responding, Burkaa prayed the court to release the defendant to the defence team for at least seven days to enable the defendant to perfect his bail.

Oyedepo however objected, stating that it would amount to variation of the bail. 

He claimed that the conditions of the bail are not something the defendant would find difficult to meet.

The judge, however, ordered that Emefiele has till Wednesday to perfect the bail or be remanded in the Kuje Correctional Centre, Abuja.

Meanwhile, the court fixed July 11 for commencement of trial.

Earlier, Emefiele through his lawyer challenged the court’s jurisdiction to entertain the suit on the grounds that he was not in any way linked with the charge.

The said property the former CBN boss is being tried is located at Plot 109, Cadastral Zone C09, Lokogoma District, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, measures 150,462.86 SQM and comprises 753 housing units.

A High Court of the FCT had last year ordered the forfeiture of the said property to the Federal Government over claim that the estate forms proceeds of crime.

However, Emefiele had approached the court to challenge the forfeiture order of the court.

While the matter is currently pending at the Court of Appeal, the anti-graft agency, on May 30, filed a fresh charge against Emefiele and one Eric Ocheme, said to be at large.

The charge number: CR/358/2025, borders on alleged having control of property reasonably suspected to be unlawfully obtained. 

The offence is punishable under Section 319 of the Penal Code Law.

Besides the housing estate, the two defendants are also charged with unlawfully keeping in their possession billions of naira in proxy accounts .

In count one of the charges, Emefiele and Ocheme are being accused of knowingly having within their control the housing estate suspected to be unlawfully obtained contrary to the law.

While in count two, they were alleged to knowingly have in their possession the sum of N167 million domiciled in Kelvito Integrated Services’ account No: 1016232915 

In count three, they were alleged to have held the sum of N1.23 billion in the same account. 

According to the anti-graft agency, the said sums were said to be reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained.

In another count, they were also alleged to have in their control another sum of N2.9 billion domiciled in Kelvito Integrated Services’ account No: 1016232915 domiciled in a bank

In count five, the commission stated that the defendants between January and December 2022, knowingly had under their control the total sum of N1.98 billion domiciled in Kelvito Integrated Services’ account No: 1016232915 domiciled in a bank , which sum is reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained.

In other counts, they were also linked to the sum of N900 million and N600 million in Ifedigo Integrated Services’ account No: 1210750237 domiciled in a bank

Meanwhile, in count eight, Emefiele was said to have in January 2021, forged a document titled, ‘Irrevocable Power of Attorney Between MG Properties Limited and H and Y Business Global Limited’ with the intention of causing it to be believed that the said titled document was executed by the authority of H and Y Business Global Limited.

The offences, according to the EFCC, contravened the provisions of sections 319, 362 and 364 of the Penal Code.

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