Arrest warrant: Court gives Emefiele Jan. 25 to appear over $53m debt… 

A Federal High Court in Abuja has given former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, until Jan. 25 to appear in court to explain circumstances surrounding the 53 million dollar-judgment debt arising from the Pars Club refund.

Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a short ruling on Tuesday, gave Emefiele another opportunity to appear in court in person or an arrest warrant issued against the ex-CBN governor.

The development followed 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 custody.

Anuga informed the court that an affidavit to show cause on why arrest warrant should not be issued against Emefiele was filed on Oct. 30.

Justice Ekwo then 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 responded that they were served on Monday, almost at the close of work and that they would like to react.

The judge, who cautioned Anuga against late filing of processes, reminded that the matter came up on July 19.

The senior lawyer, however, explained that all efforts were made until Friday (Oct. 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.

Anuga, however, 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.

The judge, consequently, adjourned the matter until Jan. 25 for Emefiele to show cause why arrest warrant should not be issued against him.

It was also reported that Emefiele was arrested and detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Oct. 26 less than an hour after the DSS released him.

The EFCC was said to be probing him over alleged impropriety during his term as the head of the apex bank.