The Special Offences Court in Lagos has refused to halt hearing corruption charges against Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In his verdict on Wednesday, February 26, Justice Rahman Oshodi denied the defendant’s plea for him to disqualify himself from the trial, finding that the defendant’s charges of prejudice against him were unfounded.
Justice Oshodi cited a 2013 ruling by Nigeria’s current Chief Justice, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, which stated that “judicial bias is usually insufficient to justify disqualifying a judge from presiding over a case.”
To warrant disqualification or recusal, the judge’s bias must often be personal or based on some extrajudicial basis.
Justice Oshodi went on to reference additional Supreme Court legal precedents before concluding that the move for his recusal was without merit.
He said, “Applying the forgoing principles to the circumstances of this case, the allegation of bias has not been substantiated…. Accordingly, the first and second defendants’ recusal application is refused. This is the ruling of the court.”
Emefiele, through his lead lawyer, Olalekan Ojo (SAN), and his co-defendant’s counsel, Kazeem Gbadamosi (SAN), made oral petitions to the court to disqualify itself from the proceedings on the basis of bias at the court’s most recent sitting on Monday.
The lawyers stated that by allowing the prosecution counsel to ask a leading question of his witness, which the defence had previously objected to, the court made it impossible for the defence to cross-examine the witness fairly.
Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN), counsel for the prosecution, had contested the applications, claiming that they were unmeritorious.
Additionally, Emefiele was granted permission by Justice Oshodi to appeal the court’s January 8 ruling that questioned the court’s authority to hear his case.
The court postponed it until May 26 to allow the trial to continue.
A Gentle Reminder: Every obstacle is a stepping stone, every morning; a chance to go again, and those little steps take you closer to your dream.
Nnamdi Okoli