Emefiele challenges Lagos court jurisdiction to try him

Emefiele challenges Lagos court jurisdiction to try him

A Lagos High Court has deferred till the end of trial, its ruling on the application filed by the

Former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, has challenged the jurisdiction of the court to try him on abuse of office charge brought against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

Emefiele through his lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, said he could not be tried in the high court of any state in Nigeria for alleged abuse of office.

The former CBN governor also noted that counts 1-4 of the 26-count charge filed by the EFCC against him are unconstitutional as they are unknown to any law in Nigeria.

His counsel asked the court to strike out the four counts on the grounds that the court has no jurisdiction to try the offence of abuse of office in relation to the office of the CBN governor.

The EFCC through its counsel, Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), however, countered these arguments.

Citing decided cases of the Supreme Court, he asked the trial judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi, not to defer or prevent the trial of the case on the basis of objections challenging the particulars of the counts of the information.

“That approach is intended to take us back to where we are coming from as this were the basis for Section 1 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA and the purpose for which Administration of Criminal Justice Law, ACJL was intended.

“The intention of our collective resolution as a nation was to to prevent undue delay in our criminal cases.

“I urge my lord to refuse this invitation; trial has commenced, this application to prevent the trial today is unlawful, illegal and unconstitutional and I urge the court not to depart from the decision of the apex court as to do so would amount to judicial rascality,” Oyedepo stated.