Emefiele faces fresh 26-count charge, to be arraigned on Monday

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed new criminal charges against Godwin Emefiele, former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The 26-count charge borders on accepting gratification, accepting gifts through agents, corruption, receipt of property fraudulently obtained, and conferring corrupt advantage on his associates.

The charge sheet, marked ID/23787c/2024, and dated April 3, 2024, was filed by Rotimi Oyedepo, a senior advocate of Nigeria.

The EFCC alleged that Emefiele was guilty of abuse of office between 2022 and 2023 in Lagos.

The former CBN governor will be arraigned on Monday, April 8, before Rahman Oshodi, judge of an Ikeja high court, in Lagos.

The commission alleged that Emefiele “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $2,136,391,737.33 without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians”.

The EFCC further alleged that Emefiele, between 2020 and 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary, act to wit: allocating foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $291,945,785.59, without bids, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians”.

Emefiele was also alleged to have, in 2021, in Lagos, “directed to be done in abuse of the authority of your office, as the governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, an arbitrary act, to wit: special allocation of foreign exchange in the aggregate sum of $1,769,254,793.16, which act is prejudicial to the rights of Nigerians”.

Emefiele’s co-defendant was alleged to have collected $110,000 for Emefiele as a reward for allocating foreign exchange by the central bank in favour of one Raja Punjab in November 2020.

According to the charge, the offences committed contravened Section 73 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

Emefiele is currently facing a 20-count amended charge bordering on alleged criminal breach of trust, forgery, conspiracy to commit forgery, procurement fraud and conspiracy to commit a felony.

In July 2023, President Bola Tinubu appointed Jim Obazee, former chief executive officer (CEO) of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN), as a special investigator to probe the activities of the CBN and related entities.

On December 22, 2023, Obazee’s team submitted its report to Tinubu — revealing alleged fraudulent activities and malfeasance in Nigeria’s apex bank.

In the report, the special investigator’s panel accused Emefiele of consenting to the “unlawful removal” of $6.23 million from the vault of the apex bank’s Abuja office.