Nigeria's suspended Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele, arrested a month ago, appears in court over charges of illegally possessing a firearm and live ammunition.
Authorities discovered that Emefiele illegally owned a shotgun and hundreds of cartridges for the gun, marking a dramatic fall from grace of a man who has long been at the center of the country's politics and finances.
Nigeria's Central Bank Governor Appears in Court
The Central Bank governor appeared in court on Tuesday and continues to deny the charges against him as he has been granted bail. He has not been charged with economic crimes despite illegal firearm possession.
Outside of the court where Emefiele arrived, secret police officers beat up prison officials preparing to take the Central Bank governor into custody until his bail was settled. The DSS was later able to take the 61-year-old.
Emefiele was initially suspended shortly after Bola Tinubu used the address at his May inauguration as president to criticize a key policy spearheaded by the suspended Central Bank governor. As per BBC, it was seen as an unsuccessful attempt to redesign the currency, known as the naira.
It was also seen as part of an effort to prevent vote-buying during the country's tightly contested presidential election in February that Tinubu won, the ruling party candidate and a billionaire.
When he was seen at a Lagos court, the defendant looked to be a shadow of the man that once had control over the finances of Nigeria, which is considered the largest economy in Africa.
He was also seen holding onto a huge red Bible in one arm while he was being dragged by the court registrar into the courtroom by his other arm. When Emefiele was inside, he was placed in a dock wedged between a scrum of lawyers and a shelf with thousands of court files left to gather dust.
The presiding judge in the case is Justice Nicholar Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos and was the one who granted Emefiele bail despite various objections from the attorney general's office against such a decision, according to the Associated Press.
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Illegal Possession of Firearm and Live Ammunition
The latest public appearance is the first for the suspended Central Bank governor since his June 10 arrest by the secret police. The illegal possession of a firearm and live ammunition against Emefiele was a far lesser offense than the alleged terrorism financing and economic crimes the agency accused him of last year.
In June, lawyers for the Nigerian government asked the courts to authorize Emefiele's detention for alleged misappropriation of funds and "criminal breach of trust." They secured a court order to hold the Central Bank governor pending further investigations.
The defendant is known for using unorthodox policies to keep Nigeria's naira currency artificially strong and lending it directly to businesses to boost growth. Aljazeera said he was first appointed in 2014 and won a second five-year term in 2019.
