Justice Ekwo in a short ruling on Tuesday gave Emefiele another opportunity to either appear before the court in person or through an arrest warrant issued against him.
Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has ordered the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, till January 25, 2024, to appear before it to explain circumstances surrounding the $53 million debt arising from the Paris Club refund.
Justice Ekwo, in a short ruling on Tuesday, gave Emefiele another opportunity to either appear before the court in person or through an arrest warrant issued against him.
The order was sequel to 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 detention.
Anuga told the court that an affidavit to show cause on why an arrest warrant should not be issued against Emefiele was filed on October 30.
Vanguard reports that when Justice Ekwo asked I.A. Nnana, the lawyer who represented Mr Joe Agi (SAN), the judgment creditor/applicant in the suit, if he had been served with the affidavit, Nnana affirmed that they were served on Monday, almost at the close of work and that they would like to react.
Justice Ekwo who cautioned Anuga against late filing of processes, reminded him that the matter came up on July 19.
Anuga however explained that all efforts were made until Friday October 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.
He informed the court that since parties had been exploring settlement before and the CBN had a new governor, they should be allowed to explore settlement option.
However, Justice Ekwo insisted that Emefiele must appear in the next adjourned day, saying that “As for the 4th respondent (Emefiele), I have always said, contempt proceedings follow a person whether the person Is still there or not."
According to Justice Ekwo, “In this case, I have given this particular person so much liberty, so much leniency and the situation does not seem to change.
“I will adjourn the matter because the other side says they want to react to the process so there is no much talk.
“Order of court must be complied with and even if no one complies with the order of the court, the court must comply with its order.
“I will give you sufficient time.”
He thereafter adjourned the matter until January 25, 2024 for Emefiele to show cause why arrest warrant should not be issued against him.