There’s No Plea Bargain Of N50Bn Whatsoever With Emefiele – FG
The Federal Government on Sunday, October 1, 2023, declared that it did not enter into any form of plea bargain with former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele talk more of an amount of N50billion being speculated.
Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who stated the position of the Federal Government, stressed that there was no iota of truth in the plea bargain deal.
Fagbemi further said that neither his office nor the Presidency has had anything of such nature with the embattled former governor of the CBN, Emefiele.
Emefiele was reported by an online news portal to have entered into a plea bargain with government on condition of parting with N50B to facilitate his release from the custody of the Department of the State Services (DSS).
The Attorney General of the Federation in a statement by the Director of Information in the Federal Ministry of Justice, Mrs Modupe Ogundoro, explained that while the legal team of Emefiele had expressed their intention at the last hearing in court to initiate a plea bargain arrangement, there was however no such arrangement reached with Mr. Godwin Emefiele or his representatives and the Federal Government.
The statement read in part; “The attention of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to a report by Sahara Reporters alleging that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the Federal Government of Nigeria, have agreed to a non-prosecution plea bargain arrangement.
“The report further alleges that Mr. Godwin Emefiele and the Federal Government of Nigeria, represented by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, have signed a non-prosecution plea bargain agreement and that the agreement is awaiting the signature of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice hereby states clearly that these reports are completely false. We wish to advise the media and members of the public to kindly disregard the said false report.
“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice will continue to take all actions in the interest of the Nigerian public,” it stated.
