Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), was threatened with an arrest warrant on Wednesday by the Federal High Court in Abuja for failing to appear in court to explain the circumstances surrounding the 53 million dollar judgment debt resulting from the Paris Club refund.
Emefiele was ordered to appear on the subsequent postponed date by Justice Inyang Ekwo, who also stated that he intended to exhibit caution in the proceedings to give the former CBN leader a chance to defend himself.
The development occured as a result of an intervention by Emefiele’s attorney, Audu Anuga, SAN, who pleaded with the court to give his client another chance because they had been unable to contact him since the last order for him to appear in court.
Emefiele, the CBN governor who had been suspended, had been detained, Anuga informed the court.
He claimed that all attempts to get in touch with him to deliver the court’s order to him failed.
Justice Ekwo had, on Oct. 20, 2022, ordered the CBN governor to appear in court on Jan. 18 over his alleged refusal to obey the order of the court for the payment of the judgment debt in favour of a legal practitioner, Joe Agi, SAN.
Agi had dragged Linas International Ltd, Minister of Finance, CBN and Emefiele to court as 1st to 4th judgment debtors respectively, following an application for garnishee made by him as judgment creditor in the case.
On June 9, however, President Bola Tinubu removed him from his position as governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and ordered him to hand over his duties to the deputy governor of the operations directorate.
Emefiele was suspended no sooner than the Department of State Services (DSS) reported his arrest and incarceration on June 10.