Court Assumes Jurisdiction To Hear Charge Against Emefiele

The former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, was charged with accepting gratification, corrupt demand, and receiving property inadvertently from the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja.

According to the evidence presented in the case file, Justice Rahman Oshodi’s ruling on Wednesday concluded that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had successfully established territorial jurisdiction to hear counts 8 to 20 of the 26-count charges brought against the former CBN Governor.

The court, however, agreed with lawyers to Emefiele, that counts 1 to 4 of the charge are unconstitutional, as they are not based on any existing laws in Nigeria.

READ ALSO: EFCC Asks Court To Strike Out Emefiele’s Application On Jurisdiction

On the basis of alleged abuse of office and irregular allocation of $4.5 billion and N2.8 billion, respectively, the EFCC arraigned Emefiele on April 8, 2024.

In counts 1 through 4 and 8 to 26 along with counts 8 to 26, which are all alleged abuses of office, contrary to and punishable by Section 73 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011, accepting gratification, contrary to and punishable by Section 8 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, receiving fraudulently obtained property, contrary to and punishable by Section 328 of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2011, and granting corrupt advantage, contrary to Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences

Justice Oshodi noted in his ruling that while counts 1 through 4 relate to the general offence of abuse of office as defined by criminal law, the specific conduct alleged in those counts is not deemed to be an offence by any written law at all. Consequently, the court struck out these counts.

Regarding counts 8 to 26, the judge emphasised that by applying established legal principles, the evidence presented was sufficient to affirm the court’s territorial jurisdiction.

Justice Oshodi made it clear that Emefiele’s allegations against her are unsubstantiated and that this conclusion is only applicable to the jurisdictional objection.

After that, Justice Rahman Oshodi decided that Emefiele’s objection to the court’s territorial jurisdiction over counts 8 to 26 was rejected, noting that the prosecution has established a sufficient territorial nexus to compel her to answer the charges.

Source: Channels TV