A Federal High Court in Abuja has given former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, until January 25 to appear in court to explain circumstances surrounding the $53 million-judgment debt arising from the Paris Club refund.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a short ruling on Tuesday, gave Emefiele another opportunity to appear in court in person or an arrest warrant will be issued against him.
The development followed a plea by Emefiele and CBN’s counsel, Audu Anuga, SAN, that all efforts to ensure that his client appeared in person on the order of the court were unsuccessful as he was still in custody.
Anuga informed the court that an affidavit to show cause on why an arrest warrant should not be issued against Emefiele was filed on Oct. 30.
Justice Ekwo then asked I.A. Nnana, the lawyer who represented Joe Agi, SAN, the judgment creditor/applicant in the suit, if he had been served with the affidavit.
Nnana responded that they were served on Monday, almost at the close of work and that they would like to react.
The judge, who cautioned Anuga against late filing of processes, reminded that the matter came up on July 19.
The senior lawyer, however, explained that all efforts were made until Friday (Oct. 27) to ensure that Emefiele was released on order of the court but the order was not complied with, which necessitated the filing of the affidavit.
Anuga, however, told the court that since parties had been exploring settlement before and the CBN had a new governor, they should be allowed to explore settlement options.
But Justice Ekwo insisted that Emefiele must appear on the next adjourned day.
