Emefiele loses the offer to stop the trial while the judge rejects the request for the challenge

The Court of Special Crimes in Lagos, chaired by Judge Rahman Oshodi, has refused to stop the hearing of corruption accusations against the former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

In his ruling on Wednesday, Judge Oshodi dismissed the request to withdraw from the trial, stating that the accusations of bias against him were not based.

Citing a variety of legal authorities, the court argued that judicial bias is only insufficient to justify disqualification or challenge, and added that it must be personal or based on judicial reasoning.

Subsequently, the judge ruled that the request for his challenge lacked merit and quickly rejected it.

In the last court sitting on Monday, Emefiele, through his main lawyer, Olalekan Ojo, San, had requested that Judge Oshodi renounce the procedures.

The lawyer argued that by allowing the Prosecutor to ask a main question that the defense had observed previously, the judge had made it impossible for the defense to interrogate the witness. Therefore, he requested that Judge Oshodi challenge himself of new hearings.