Former CBN governor Emefiele to spend Christmas with his family after meeting bail conditions

FORMER Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele has regained his freedom after he was released from the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja following the meeting his of bail conditions.

Mr Emefiele, who is facing numerous corruption charges, had been granted bail by the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja in November but up until now, had not met his bail conditions. Yesterday, however, he successfully met all the conditions laid down by the court and was released in time for him to spend Christmas with his family.

Adamu Duza, spokesperson for the detention centre, said: “He has been released on Friday at about past 2pm. Having fulfilled the bail conditions that the court set as for his release, we had to let him go.”

Mr Emefiele was granted a N300m ($330,000) bail on November 22, which required him to produce two sureties in like sum. These sureties must have certificates of occupancy and titles of properties within the Maitama district of Abuja.

In addition, Mr Emefiele was also mandated to deposit all his travel documents with the registrar of the court and remain within the Abuja Municipal Council. On November 18, Mr Emefiele was arraigned on six counts of procurement fraud after being arrested by security operatives in June following his suspension as CBN governor.

He is also accused of abusing his office by approving a contract for the acquisition of 43 vehicles totalling N1.2bn between 2018 to 2020. Peter Afunanya, the State security services spokesperson, said Mr Emefiele was arrested for some investigative reasons.

Jim Obazee, the special investigator probing the CBN, alleged that Mr Emefiele and others embezzled billions of naira and committed other financial offences. His report claimed that Mr Emefiele also perpetrated fraud in the controversial redesign of the Nigerian currency, the naira.

According to Mr Obazee, in the UK alone, his probe led him to £543.4m kept by Mr Emefiele in fixed deposit accounts. He also said Mr Emefiele manipulated the naira exchange rate and perpetrated fraud in the e-Naira project of the CBN.

In his report, which he submitted to President Bola Tinubu on December 9, Mr Obazee identified several chargeable offences for which the former CBN governor may be asked to defend himself before a court. Mr Emefiele will now face trial for these offences in the new year.