Olusegun Ariyo
The Special Offences Court in Lagos, presided over by Justice Rahman Oshodi, has refused to halt the hearing of corruption allegations against the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
In his ruling on Wednesday, Justice Oshodi dismissed the request for him to recuse himself from the trial, stating that the allegations of bias against him were unsubstantiated.
Citing a range of legal authorities, the court held that judicial bias alone is insufficient to justify disqualification or recusal, adding that it must be personal or based on judicial reasoning.
The judge subsequently ruled that the application for his recusal lacked merit and promptly rejected it.
At the last court sitting on Monday, Emefiele, through his lead counsel, Olalekan Ojo, SAN, had requested that Justice Oshodi step down from the proceedings.
The counsel argued that by allowing the prosecution to ask a leading question that the defence had previously objected to, the judge had made it impossible for the defence to fairly cross-examine the witness. He, therefore, requested that Justice Oshodi recuse himself from further hearings.
