The court had, on 17 August, postponed the arraignment of Mr Emefiele on the N6.9 billion fraud charges, citing the ill health of his co-defendant.
The federal government, on Wednesday, failed to arraign Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and his co-defendant, Sa'adatu Ramallan-Yaro.
The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, in Abuja, had, last week Tuesday (17 August), rescheduled the arraignment of the defendants for Wednesday. Ms Ramallan-Yaro's absence from court was cited for the postponement of the arraignment.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar, had informed the trial judge, Hamzat Muazu, that Ms Ramallan-Yaro could not be brought to court due to ill health.
However, on Wednesday, the State Security Service (SSS) failed to bring Mr Emefiele and Ms Ramallan-Yaro to court. Both of the defendants have been in SSS custody.
Neither the prosecution nor the defence teams were in court. Mr Emefiele's lawyer, Akinlolu Kehinde, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and Ms Ramallan-Yaro's counsel, Abdulhakeem Labi-lawal, were absent.
PREMIUM TIMES checks revealed that the case was not listed on Wednesday's cause list, and the DPP, Mr Abubakar was also not in court.
There was no official available to explain what seemed to be an indefinite postponement agreed between the parties to the case and the court.
Background
Mr Emefiele was charged alongside Mrs Ramalan-Yaro, and her company, April 1616 Investment Limited.
Mr Emefiele and Mrs Ramalan-Yaro, a CBN staff member, were accused of conspiracy and procurement fraud involving as much as N6.9 billion.
The charges alleged that Mr Emefiele conferred corrupt advantages on Ms Ramalan-Yaro, using her firm, April 1616 Investment Limited, to execute a series of procurement contracts spanning years.
The government alleged that the defendants committed the offences through the award of contracts to Mrs Ramalan-Yaro's company for the supply of cars.
The defendants, allegedly through the corrupt transactions, purchased a fleet of about 100 posh vehicles and armoured buses worth about N6.9 billion.
The alleged corrupt transactions took place between 2018 and 2020, according to the charges.
Section 19 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, under which he was charged, provides a five-year jail sentence upon conviction.
"Any public officer who uses his office or position to gratify or confer any corrupt or unfair advantage upon himself or any relation or associate of the public officer or any other public officer shall be guilty of an offence and shall on conviction be liable to imprisonment for five years without an option of fine," the law stipulates.
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President Bola Tinubu suspended Mr Emefiele as the CBN governor on 9 June. The next day, 10 June, the SSS picked him up in Lagos and flew him to its headquarters in Abuja for interrogation.
Mr Emefiele has since remained in SSS custody. Mrs Ramalan-Yaro, who was arrested alongside her husband, Aminu Yaro, on 12 July, is also still in SSS' custody.
This newspaper reported how the FCT High Court ordered the release of the couple on 25 July. But the order was not complied with.
It took an order of the FCT High Court on 13 July, more than a month after the arrest, for the SSS to file the firearms charges against Mr Emefiele.
Subsequently, on 25 July, the SSS arraigned him before the Federal High Court in Lagos on two charges of "illegal possession" of firearms and live ammunition.
The government subsequently applied to the court to have the firearms possession charges against Mr Emefiele dropped.
PREMIUM TIMES also reported that Mr Emefiele's co-defendant in the fresh charges also has a pending money laundering case involving about N140 billion.
