February 8, 2025

Why Court dismissed charge against suspended CBN Governor, Emefiele

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday, struck out the illegal possession of firearms charge filed by the federal government against suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele.

Justice Nicholas Oweibo made the order following a request by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in the Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, to withdraw the two-count charge brought against the defendant.

In his application, Abubakar, while relying on Section 108 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, prayed the court to grant the request.


The defendant’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), had argued that the prosecution could not withdraw the charge unless the government obeyed the court’s July 25 order, granting Emefiele a N20 million bail.

However, the presiding judge, in his ruling, blamed the government for its disobedience, stating that the conduct of the prosecution showed that it doesn’t respect the rule of law.

He held: “Of what benefit will it be to keep the file in the court’s docket when the prosecution has shown disrespect to the court?

“To stop the embarrassment of the court and keep its integrity intact means to strike out this charge, which has simply been abandoned for a lack of diligent prosecution.

“Accordingly, this charge is hereby struck out for lack of diligent prosecution.”