The Federal High Court, Lagos, has rejected the Federal Government’s claim that it had not received a copy of the bail application filed by the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, in his alleged gun possession trial.
In a short ruling on the issue, Justice Nicholas Oweibo held that there was evidence that the government was served.
The bail application was filed by Emefiele’s lawyers led by Joseph Dauda (SAN).
Dauda had asked the court to hear the 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 office of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) was in the court’s file.
Dauda also asked the court to end the oppression of his client by the Department of State Security (DSS) who arrested him and hear the bail application.
But the government’s lawyer, a Deputy Director of Prosecution, Nkiru Jones-Nebo, told the court that she had not set eyes on the application as there is currently no AGF in the country after the tenure of the last administration lapsed.
She said, “We have scrutinised even through the agency the defendant is been detained but we could not find any.”
“I have not set my eye on this application. I am yet to receive and after we receive it, we would want to respond to it.
“With due respect to the court, we are seeking a date to enable us to respond both to the issues of law and the facts contained in the application which I am just seeing this morning.”
The arguments prompted Justice Oweibo to write a ruling where he dismissed the government’s objections.
At the time of this report, the court is hearing the suspended CBN Governor’s bail application.
