Nigeria’s Ex-Central Bank Head Bailed After Five Months in Jail

(Bloomberg) -- Nigeria’s former central bank governor was freed on bail after spending the past five months in prison.

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A court in the capital, Abuja, released Godwin Emefiele on Wednesday, his lawyer Johnson Usman said by phone.

The court ordered Emefiele to surrender his travel documents, Lagos-based newspaper Punch reported.

Emefiele, 62, has been in custody since June, when he was arrested by the Department of State Services and faced charges including fraud. He was released by the DSS last month, before being taken into custody by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

“What happened today was an enforcement of his human rights. He has not been served any charges by the EFCC,” Usman said.

Emefiele oversaw a complex foreign-exchange regime that was criticized by President Bola Tinubu at his inauguration in May. Tinubu subsequently suspended the governor and appointed a special investigator to probe the affairs of the central bank while Emefiele was governor.

Read More: Nigeria’s Anti-Corruption Police Arrests Ex-Central Bank Head

--With assistance from Anthony Osae-Brown.

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