Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Salam-Alada Kofo, the director of legal services for the CBN, are being held in contempt for allegedly disobeying a Supreme Court ruling that overturned the forfeiture of N1.22 billion and N220 million, respectively.

Cardoso, Kofo, the CBN, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, were named as respondents in a contempt suit filed by the petitioner, Melrose General Services.

Despite the Supreme Court's ruling overturning the earlier seizure of the cash, the applicant alleges that the respondents did not release their N220 million.

The lawsuit is related to the contentious Paris Club reimbursement, which entailed paying consultants who worked for the Nigerian Governors' Forum.

The Supreme Court reversed a prior forfeiture ruling that affected Melrose General Services Limited in June 2024, ordering the release of frozen funds, including N1.22 billion that was kept in Melrose's bank account and N220 million that had been given to Wasp Networks and Thebe Wellness as loans and investments.

The court decided that the EFCC had not demonstrated that the money was, as claimed, the proceeds of fraud and ordered that the full amounts be returned to the legitimate owners.

But after a year after the Supreme Court's ruling, Melrose claimed that although the CBN had reimbursed N1.22 billion, the remaining N220 million was still unpaid.

Melrose contended through its attorney, Chikaosolu Ojukwu, SAN, that the failure to follow the court's order amounted to contempt of court.

The firm argues that the Supreme Court's authority is undermined by the limited compliance.

The CBN's legal team, headed by Abdulfatai Oyedele, argued in its defence that the Supreme Court ordered the N220 million to be paid to Wasp Network Limited and Thebe Wellness Services' original accounts rather than Melrose.

Oyedele added that Thebe Wellness had not yet claimed N20m, whereas Wasp Network had asked for N200m.

M.A. Babatunde, the EFCC's attorney, filed a motion for misjoinder, arguing that the agency shouldn't be involved in the case.

To ascertain whether the CBN and its personnel knowingly disregarded the Supreme Court's direction or whether their actions were justified based on the interpretation of the aforementioned judgment, Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja will begin hearing on the case on June 4, 2025.

CBN releases amount Nigerians and government owe Nigerian banks
Legit.ng reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria has disclosed that consumer credit in Nigeria dropped to N3.5 trillion in October 2024.

This represented a 17.6% or N750 billion month-on-month (MoM) decline compared to the N4.25 trillion reported in September 2024.

Despite this monthly drop, consumer credit increased year-on-year (YoY) by 6.06%.