The embattled suspended governor of the Central bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, may be exploring a plea bargain deal with FG.
This is even as his scheduled fresh arraignment before the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, sitting at Maitama, was again, stalled yesterday.
Neither Emefiele nor his co-defendant in the 20-count corruption charge the Federal Government entered before the court, Mrs. Saadat Yaro, were present for the proceeding.
Though trial Justice Hamza Muazu, who is sitting as the vacation judge, was on seat, Emefiele’s case was, however, not listed on the court’s cause-list.
An official of the court who spoke to Vanguard but pleaded not to be named, said the case could not proceed as planned, “due to fresh developments in the matter.”
“Because of the developments, my lord had to suspend the arraignment. A new return date will be communicated to all the parties,” the official added.
Meanwhile, one of the defence lawyers in the matter, who dropped hint of the plea bargain to newsmen, said the move to settle the case out-of-court was at the instance of the erstwhile CBN boss.
“The parties are in talks and hopefully the matter will not proceed to trial. We are exploring a plea bargain arrangement. We have asked the court to give us at least two weeks,” the lawyer added.
Whereas Emefiele’s lawyer, Mr. Kehinde Akinlolu, SAN, confirmed that the scheduled arraignment of his client would not go on, he was however silent on the plea bargain issue.
He said the new trial date may likely be issued by the Chief Judge of the high court, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf.
A plea bargain is a negotiated term of settlement in criminal trials that allows a defendant to plead guilty to a lesser offence or reduced charge, in exchange for a reduction in sentence or dismissal of the charges.
Vanguard
