Fakoyejo OlalekanThe appearance of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, scheduled for Wednesday, 18 January 2023, has been adjourned.
Emefiele was summoned by Justice Inyang Ekwo to appear before the Federal High Court Abuja over a $53 million judgement debt to J. O. Njikonye relating to the Pars Club refund.
It was gathered that the central bank was ordered to pay the sum of $70 million judgment debt to Njikonye, following a lawsuit against Linas International Limited, the Minister of Finance, and the CBN.
Nigeria’s financial regulator has paid $17 million out of the judgement debt but is yet to pay the balance of $53 million. As a result, Njikonye approached the court through his counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Joe Agi, to summon Emefiele on 20 October 2022.
The summon ordered Emefiele to make himself available on 18 January 2023 to explain the reason for the delay in effecting the judgement debt.
According to Channels TV, the reason for the adjournment was not disclosed, but Emefiele is now expected to appear at the Federal High Court Abuja on 20 March 2023.
Emefiele has been battling court cases from Njikonye to that of the Department of State Services (DSS). There were claims that the secret police stormed the central bank building on Monday and arrested the apex bank boss.
However, DSS spokesman, Peter Afunanya, denied the reports, stating: “The attention of the Department of State Services has been drawn to the false news making the rounds that its operatives invaded the Central Bank of Nigeria and arrested its governor, today, January 16, 2023. This is fake news and quite misleading.”
This comes after the DSS tried to arrest Emefiele via a court order in late December, but the court ordered the secret police to stop the continuous harassment, intimidation, threats, restriction of free movement and abuse of rights of Emefiele.
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