A High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, has fixed 10 fresh hearing days to conclude the trial of a former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, over charges related to the naira redesign.

The trial judge, Justice Maryann Anenih, set the dates yesterday following an agreement between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Emefiele’s legal team.

The scheduled dates are February 3 and 10; April 1 and 2; May 11–14; and June 9 and 10, during which the court said the trial, which commenced in 2024, would be concluded.

Justice Anenih urged counsel on both sides to adhere strictly to the schedule, assuring that the court would make adequate provisions to accommodate the proceedings.

At Wednesday’s proceedings, a witness of the anti-graft agency, Mr Emere Chinedu, an operative of EFCC, admitted that the Presidency under President Muhammadu Buhari in a letter to EFCC admitted granting approval to Emefiele to redesign the Naira Notes.

He however said that the Presidency letter to EFCC in response to enquiry was that printing of the new notes should be done locally as against the printing done outside Nigeria by the former governor of the CBN.

Chinedu who headed the Inter Agency Probe Panel that investigated the former boss of the CBN said that Emefiele in the course of facing the panel made six separate extra judicial statements to present his defense.

According to him, the statements were made on October 26, 27, 30 and 31 as well as November 1st and 2nd 2023.