Emefiele Released From Kuje Prison

A former Central Bank of Nigeria CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele has been released from the Kuje Custodial Centre, Abuja.

Emefiele was said to have regained his freedom on Friday afternoon after his lawyers were able to perfect his bail.

Justice Hamza Muazu granted the bail of N300 million with two sureties in like sum.

Emefiele was on November 18 arraigned on a six-count charge bordering on procurement fraud and 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.

While he was remanded in Kuje, Emefiele was mandated to deposit all his travel documents with the registrar of the court and must remain within the Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC.

Spokesman of the Federal Capital Territory FCT Command of the Nigeria Correctional Service NCoS, Amos Duza said Emefiele was released at about 2pm.

Emefiele whose time in office is also being investigated has been accused of embezzling billions of naira and committing other gross financial offences alongside other persons by the Special Investigator probing the CBN, Jim Obazee four months after it commenced.

Obazee’s report which was submitted to President Bola Tinubu on December 9 2023, indicated that Emefiele who was in office from June 2014 to June 2023, engaged “in fraudulent cash withdrawal of $6.23 million”, and perpetrated fraud in the redesign of the naira, while he allegedly kept 543.4 million pounds in the United Kingdom.