Immediate past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele was, on Friday, re-arraigned before Justice Hamza Muazu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in Abuja.
He was put on trial on the amended charges that contained 20 count charges as against the earlier six.
Emefiele, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge as read to him in open court.
The anti-graft agency, on behalf of the Federal Government, re-arraigned Emefiele on a 20-count charge bordering on conferring corrupt advantage, forgery and obtaining by false pretence.
EFCC had on November 17, 2023, arraigned Emefiele before Justice Muazu on a six-count charge bordering on conferring advantage on a female staff member of the CBN, contrary to the provision of Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.
In the charge marked CR/577/2023, Emefiele was accused of using his position as the CBN governor to award six different contracts to on Sa’adatu Ramalan Yero, a CBN staff member, between 2018 and 2020 to the tune of N1,210,600,000.
The procurement contracts were awarded to a company in which the said Sa’adatu Ramalan Yero is a director.
While the prosecution retained the previous six-count charge against the former CBN chief, it added 14 other counts to the charge.
Following his no-guilty plea, the prosecuting counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo SAN, asked for a date for trial.
Emefiele’s counsel, Mathew Burkaa SAN, however, pleaded with the court to allow his client to continue to enjoy the bail earlier granted him on November 22, 2023.
The prosecution did not object to this application.
Oyedepo, however, said the prosecution was only interested in Emefiele attending court for trial.
