No Plea Bargain with Emefiele —AGF

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, has refuted reports that he had signed a non-prosecution plea bargain with the former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

Emefile and his associates were slated for arraignment over N6.9bn procurement fraud at the Federal Capital Territory High Court in August.

To date, the case had been stalled, fuelling speculations he had opted for a plea bargain with the Federal Government on the matter.

A report recently claimed that Emefiele and the Federal Government represented by the AGF had signed a plea bargain, while the signature of President Bola Tinubu was being awaited to complete the process.

However, in a statement on Sunday by the Ministry of Justice spokesperson, Modupe Ogundoro, the AGF described the report as false.

The AGF said no such agreement existed between his office and the embattled former CBN governor.

The statement read: “The attention of the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice has been drawn to reports alleging that the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, and the Federal Government of Nigeria, have agreed to a non-prosecution plea bargain arrangement.

“The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice hereby state clearly that these reports are completely false.

“It would be noted that the legal team representing Godwin Emefiele had expressed its 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. 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.”