A Federal High Court in Abuja has given former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele until January 25 to appear in court to explain circumstances surrounding the $53 million judgment debt arising from the Paris Club refund.
Justice Inyang Ekwo gave Emefiele the ultimatum on Tuesday following his failure to appear in court on several previous occasions. The judge warned that if Emefiele fails to appear on the next adjourned date, an arrest warrant will be issued against him.
Emefiele’s lawyer, Audu Anuga, SAN, had pleaded with the court to grant his client more time to appear, citing his continued detention by the Department of State Services (DSS). However, Justice Ekwo was not persuaded by Anuga’s plea, stating that Emefiele must appear in court to answer to the charges against him.
Anuga told 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.
But Justice Ekwo insisted that Emefiele must appear in the next adjourned day.
“As for the 4th respondent (Emefiele), I have always said, contempt proceedings follow a person whether the person Is still there or not.
“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 said
The judge, consequently, adjourned the matter until Jan. 25 for Emefiele to show cause why an arrest warrant should not be issued against him.
The $53 million judgment debt arose from a legal dispute between the CBN and a Nigerian lawyer, Joe Agi, SAN. Agi had sued the CBN for failing to pay him his legal fees for representing the federal government in a case against the Paris Club. In 2020, a court ruled in favour of Agi and ordered the CBN to pay him $70 million. However, the CBN has only paid $17 million of the judgment debt, leaving a balance of $53 million.
