•Gets 72 hours to perfect bail

Alex Enumah in Abuja and Wale Igbintade in Lagos

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, yesterday, pleaded not guilty to alleged charge of unlawful obtainment of an Abuja property containing 753 housing units.

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

Following his not guilty plea, prosecution counsel, Mr. RotimiOyedepo, 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 for date for the commencement of the trial he prayed that Emefiele be remanded in the custody of the correctional center.

Responding, Emefiele’s lawyer, Mr. Mathew Burkaa, SAN, informed the court that he had filed for the bail of the defendant on June 13, adding that since the prosecution did not file any counter affidavit, it was 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 was already being tried by the prosecution in three other matters, and this was the fourth, adding that Emefiele was granted bail in the three matters.

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

Justice Halilu, who observed that the highest offense in the land was 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 a 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 recognised that Emefiele did not jump the bail granted by Justice Maryanne Anenih and Justice HamzaMuazu

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

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 forfeits the property.

Responding, Burkaa prayed the court to release the defendant to the defense team for at least seven days to enable the defendant 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 Center, Abuja.

The court fixed July 11 for the commencement of trial.

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

The 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 claims 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 a large.

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

In count one of the charge 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 with Zenith Bank Plc.

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 with Zenith Bank Plc, which sum is reasonably suspected to have been unlawfully obtained.

In other counts, they were also linked with the sum of N900 million and N600 million in Ifedigo Integrated Services’ account No: 1210750237 domiciled with Zenith Bank.

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 or 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.

In the meantime, the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, has overturned the final forfeiture order granted in favour of the federal government over several assets and cash allegedly linked to Emefiele.

In a split decision of two-to-one delivered on April 9, 2025, a three-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Mustapha had set aside the ruling of the Federal High Court and ordered a fresh trial of the case.

The other justices on the panel were Justice AbdulazeezAnka, who delivered the lead judgment, and Justice Danlami Zama Senchi, who dissented.

The Federal High Court in Lagos had, on November 1, 2024, granted the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) application for the final forfeiture of various properties and funds allegedly traced to Emefiele.

These included multiple high-value real estate assets in Lagos and Delta State, as well as $2,045,000 in cash and shares in Queensdorf Global Fund Ltd.

Emefiele, through his counsel OlalekanOjo (SAN), had challenged the ruling on several grounds, including the trial judge’s alleged failure to properly evaluate the affidavit evidence and consider his legitimate interest in the properties.

He also argued that the judge wrongly dismissed his application for a stay of proceedings, despite pending criminal cases against him.

The EFCC, represented by RotimiOyedepo (SAN), countered that Emefiele failed to present any concrete evidence showing how he acquired the properties with legitimate income, noting that they were held in company names in which he neither appeared as a shareholder nor director.

In his lead judgment, Justice Anka ruled that there were serious conflicts in the affidavit evidence presented by both parties, warranting a full trial.

He held that the origin and legitimacy of the properties were heavily disputed, and only oral and documentary evidence, tested under cross-examination, could properly resolve the issues.

According to Anka, Emefiele had presented evidence showing significant earnings from his time at Zenith Bank and as CBN Governor, including a severance package of over N1.75 billion and annual emoluments of N350 million, among others.

He stated that these earnings could reasonably account for the acquisition of the properties.

He further ordered the case be remitted to the Federal High Court for retrial before another judge, specifically excluding Justice D. I. Dipeolu who issued the original forfeiture order.

Justice Mustapha concurred with Anka, stating that “there is no legal impediment to someone purchasing property through a third party in trust,” and that Emefiele’s income appeared sufficient to justify the acquisitions.

He also noted that the Code of Conduct forms submitted by Emefiele and his wife only covered up to 2019, while the properties were acquired between 2020 and 2023.

He described it as “absurd” to expect 2019 declarations to reflect acquisitions made years later.

On the pending criminal cases, Justice Mustapha emphasised that such matters ought to be concluded before initiating civil forfeiture proceedings, affirming that the appeal succeeded in part.

However, Justice Senchi dissented, maintaining that there was no conflict in the affidavit evidence to justify a full trial.

He said the companies in whose names the properties were acquired did not challenge the forfeiture, and that Emefiele, having denied ownership of the companies, could not claim the assets.

He described the majority’s decision to order a retrial as unnecessary and a waste of judicial time.

Senchi ruled that the appeal lacked merit and upheld the original forfeiture order.

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