Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele on Monday challenged the Lagos high court to hear the suit filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but it was deferred. Counsel to Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo, made the challenge, arguing that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the…
Former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele on Monday challenged the Lagos high court to hear the suit filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) but it was deferred.
Counsel to Emefiele, Olalekan Ojo, made the challenge, arguing that the court lacks the jurisdiction to entertain the charges filed against his client.
Ojo in his challenge called on the court to reject counts one to four because the offences relating to abuse of office are unknown to law as spelt out by section 36(12) of the 1999 constitution (as amended).
“This calls for caution. This court is not hungry for jurisdiction. This court is a busy court. It is a court governed by the rule of law,” Ojo said.
“We need to determine whether this court has jurisdiction to embark on this trial. We must toe the path of legality and constitutionality to resolving this issue.”
Counsel to the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, however expressed displeasure with the objection, asking the court not to defer or stop the trial due to the objection raised by Emefiele’s lawyer.
According to Oyedepo, the application to stop the trial is “unconstitutional and unlawful”, saying that granting it amounts to “judicial rascality”.
“That approach is intended to take us back to where we are coming from as this was the basis for Section 1 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) and the purpose for which Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) was intended,” Oyedepo said.
“Our collective resolution as a nation was to to prevent undue delay in our criminal cases.
“This application to prevent the trial today is unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional and I urge the court not to depart from the decision of the apex court as to do so would amount to judicial rascality.”
Justice Rahmon Oshodi of the Lagos high court in Ikeja after hearing the counsels’ arguments deferred ruling on the application to the final day of judgment.
An Ikeja Special Offences Court last month remanded Emefiele for alleged abuse of office and fraud to the tune of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion.