The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi SAN has denied ever entering into any plea bargain deal with sacked former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
Fagbemi was reacting against a report by an online platform to the effect that the office of the AGF had signed a plea bargain deal with the embattled Emefiele.
Without mincing words, the AGF in a statement on Sunday, vehemently refutted the claim, insisting that the Federal Government and Emefiele did not at any point in time, agreed to a non prosecution plea bargain arrangement.
“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 nonprosecution plea bargain agreement and that the agreement is awaiting the signature of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR” the AGF stated.
However, the AGF has maintained that the report has no element of truth in it.
“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice hereby states clearly that these reports are completely false.
“It would be noted that the legal team representing Mr. Godwin Emefiele had expressed their intention in court at the last hearing to initiate a plea bargain arrangement.
“However, no such arrangement has been reached with Mr. Godwin Emefiele or his representatives.
“We wish to advise the media and members of the public to kindly disregard the said false report” Fagbemi said.
The statement by Modupe Ogundoro (Mrs), Director (Press and Public Relations) Federal Ministry of Justice, assured that the AGF will continue to take all actions in the interest of the Nigerian public.
Recall that the ousted CBN Governor was to be arraigned on a fresh 20-count criminal charge on August 17, 2023, at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory.
However, the scheduled arraignment of Emefiele, was stalled due to the absence of the second defendant, Saadat Yaro.
Though Emefiele was physically present in court, but being a criminal charge, the court had to defer the arraignment to August 23.
On August 23, the DSS did not show up in court with Emefiele, a development that sparked insinuations in some quarters that the defendants might be opting for a plea bargain.
