Paris Club refund: Fresh trouble for Emefiele as court threatens him with arrest warrant over N41.7bn ($53m) debt Godwin Emefiele, the Centr...

Paris Club refund: Fresh trouble for Emefiele as court threatens him with arrest warrant over N41.7bn ($53m) debt

Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) embattled suspended governor, is now facing new difficulties after a Federal High Court in Abuja threatened to issue an arrest warrant for him for failing to show up for court to explain the circumstances surrounding the $53 million judgment debt resulting from the Paris Club refund.

Emefiele was directed to appear on the next postponed date by Justice Inyang Ekwo on Wednesday, July 19, 2023. He stated he was planning to exercise caution in the case to give the former CBN boss a chance to defend himself.

Since they had not been able to contact Emefiele since the previous order instructing him to appear in court, his attorney, Audu Anuga (SAN), had asked the court to grant his client another chance.

Anuga informed the court that Emefiele, the CBN governor who had been suspended, had been detained and that no attempts had been made to contact him in order to inform him of the court's order.

Recall that on October 20, 2022, Justice Ekwo issued an order requiring the CBN governor to appear in court on January 18 in relation to his alleged unwillingness to comply with the court's direction to pay the judgment debt in favor of a lawyer named Joe Agi (SAN).

Following an application for garnishee brought by him as the judgment creditor in the case, Agi had taken Linas International Ltd, the Minister of Finance, CBN, and Emefiele to court as the first through fourth judgment debtors, respectively.

When the case was summoned on January 18, the procedures were unable to progress as planned, causing the court to defer the case until March 20, after which it was set for June 6 once more.

Emefiele was required to appear before the court on July 19 for the matter, according to a June 6 court order.

 

Ayodele Arotiowa, who represented Agi when the case was summoned on Wednesday, was going to make a submission when Justice Ekwo asked Emefiele's attorney if he had complied with the order.

We tried to reach the fourth respondent (Emefiele), but the third respondent (CBN) was unable to reach the fourth respondent. We solely rely on public announcements to inform us that the fourth respondent is behind bars because we are unable to reach him, Anuga said.

However, it is currently known by the general public that he has been suspended, Anuga added. And he must be given the chance to cooperate.

Since the lawsuit was filed in 2017, Justice Ekwo has questioned how long the court will continue to wait for Emefiele, adding, "I have given you enough opportunity, but you are taking it for granted," and asking Anuga to provide a compelling argument as to why the court shouldn't issue an arrest warrant for Emefiele.

Since his client was still being held after his suspension despite a court order requiring his release, the senior attorney declared, "My lord, we are at the mercy of the court."

He asserts that the entire intent of the warrant is to obligate this honorable court to carry out its duties.

However, because we haven't had the opportunity to visit him, there has been an intervening occurrence. The fourth respondent has not been informed of the most recent opportunity my Lord provided him.

He begged, "I believe the opportunity should be given so that this may be communicated, and then the court can take action if Emefiele doesn't comply.

The judge postponed the case until October 31 to give the CBN and Emefiele the chance to explain why an arrest warrant for the former CBN governor shouldn't be issued.

After hearing from the attorneys, he stated, "I am inclined to exercise restraint in this proceeding to afford 4th respondent an opportunity to explain himself to me on next adjourned date."