December 06, (THEWILL) – The Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi Ojaja II, has joined the growing list of influential Nigerians seeking the release of Godwin Emefiele, the embattled former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), who is currently behind bars for his inability to meet his N300 million bail condition.
Last month, Emefiele was arraigned on a six-count charge bordering on procurement fraud by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). He was accused of using his position to confer a corrupt advantage on Sa’adatu Yaro, a staff of CBN, by awarding a contract for the procurement of 43 vehicles worth N1.2 billion between 2018 and 2020.
Emefiele pleaded not guilty to the amended charges and was later granted bail in the sum of N300 million as well as two sureties in like sum, both of which must have certificates of occupancy and titles of properties within the Maitama district in Abuja.
He was also mandated to deposit all his travel documents with the Registrar of the Court with a warning to remain within the Abuja Municipal Council.
Unfortunately, he was unable to meet the bail conditions and had to be remanded in Kuje Correctional Facility until 2024.
THEWILL exclusively gathered that the Ooni was at Kuje prison twice today, Tuesday, December 5, ostensibly to visit Emefiele. The first time was in the early afternoon. He left after and returned four hours later to continue with his discussions with him. On both occasions, he had very lengthy meetings with Emefiele.
The Ooni obviously wants to settle things amicably between Emefiele and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to avoid the unnecessary dehumanisation of the former CBN governor, which has gone on for far too long in the estimation of some Nigerians.
Some of these Nigerians alleged Emefiele’s human rights violations, being sequestered and shackled like a common criminal and consider his detention as illegal and fiendish.
Besides civil society groups, other influential Nigerians who have intervened on behalf of Emefiele are elder statesman, Edwin Clark, and James Ibori, a former governor of Delta State who is a close friend of Tinubu among several others.
Prior to his arrest and arraignment by the EFCC, Emefiele had been in the custody of the Department of State Security (DSS) for over four months and just when he was released to breathe the fresh air of freedom, he got arrested again by the EFCC.
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