A judge during a ruling on Thursday has delivered a damning verdict on the President Tinubu led government: that it has no respect for the rule of law.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo of a federal high court in Lagos while giving his ruling on the ‘illegal possession of firearms and ammunition” charges against the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele made the assertion.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) at the Federal Ministry of Justice, Abubakar Mohammed, had on Tuesday filed an oral application seeking the withdrawal of the two-count charge against Emefiele, premising his decision to withdraw the charges on emerging facts and circumstances of the case which require closer investigation.
But the visibly infuriated judge wrote:
“The prosecution has shown that they are not law abiding and have no respect for the court. The court cannot force them”
“What good will it be for the defendant who is in custody? Of what benefit will it be to keep the file in the court’s docket?”
“To stop the embarrassment of the court and to keep its integrity intact, I believe the proper thing is to allow them withdraw the charge.
“They can simply abandon it and the court will still have to strike it out for lack of diligent prosecution. The application to withdraw is hereby granted.”
Mohammed on behalf of the prosecution told the judge that the application for withdrawal was premised on the result of more investigations conducted by the government.
While speaking to journalists, Mohammed said they “will probably come back with more charges, more counts” against the suspended bank chief.
