Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and his co-defendant were not present in court on Wednesday, according to Mohammed Abubakar, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federal Ministry of Justice.
Recall that the federal government filed an N6.9 billion 20-count charges against the accused for suspected procurement law violations and contract inflation.
The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory’s Wednesday arraignment, however, was not listed on the court’s cause list.
The anticipated arraignment for Emefiele and Ramallan-Yaro was delayed for the second time.
According to reports, Emefiele chose a plea agreement with the federal government to resolve the allegations brought against him.
According to sources familiar with the development, Saadat Yaro, Emefiele’s co-accused, and they chose to settle with the government through a plea agreement.
However, the DPP revealed that Emefiele was not arraigned on Wednesday due to safety concerns surrounding the court in an interview with Premium Times on Thursday in Abuja.
Abubakar said: “You remember at the last sitting, some angry persons mobilized to the court threatening to lynch him (Mr Emefiele).
“We were ready to bring the defendants to court for arraignment on Wednesday, but we received an intelligence report that some people were out to foment trouble. So, we had to shelve the arraignment.”
Abubakar insisted that a plea arrangement had been discussed in the case but asserted that neither his co-defendant Emefiele nor the prosecution had made a plea proposal.
“As far as we are concerned, there is no such application for plea bargain before the Ministry of Justice,” he said.
The law does, however, allow for a plea bargain, and if “there is any such request, it would be considered,” he continued.
A plea bargain is a legal procedure that enables a defendant facing criminal charges in court to admit guilt to a lesser crime in exchange for a lenient punishment, typically before the trial ever gets started or has progressed very far.
