A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday struck out the firearm charges against the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo struck out the charge for want of diligent prosecution, following the withdrawal application made by the Director of Public Prosecution of the Ministry of Justice, Mohammed Abubakar.
At the last adjourned date, the DPP made an oral application to the court to withdraw the charge against Emefiele.
He stated that the application was informed by imaging facts and for circumstances that need further investigations and urged the court to grant the application.
The defence through its lead counsel Mr. J.B. Daodu had argued that the prosecution could not withdraw the charge unless the government first purges itself of its disobedience to the court’s July 25 order granting Emefiele N20million bail.
But Justice Oweibo, while condemning the government’s conduct, granted its application.
He said: “The conduct of the prosecution has shown that it doesn’t respect the rule of law.
“Of what benefit will it be to keep the file in the court’s docket when the prosecution has shown disrespect to the court?
“Accordingly this charge is hereby struck out for lack of diligent prosecution.”