The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, was charged on Tuesday with two counts of illegally possessing a pistol and ammunition at the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Officials from the Department of State Services (DSS) hauled him to court.
Emefiele was arraigned before Justice Nicholas Oweibo, the vacation judge.
Joseph Daudu, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), led other attorneys in defending Emefiele.
However, the suspended head of the top bank entered a not guilty plea to the accusations leveled against him.
Following the plea, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Daudu informed the court that his client had been held without charge for several weeks. Additionally, he informed Justice Oweibo that the bail application had been submitted and served on the prosecution.
Emefiele was placed on administrative leave by President Bola Tinubu on June 9, 2023. The DSS acknowledged that it was holding the troubled, suspended CBN boss a day later.
On July 13, 2023, an Abuja High Court issued an order for the secret police to bring Emefiele before a judge within a week or release him.
The DSS reported hours later that Emefiele had been charged to court in accordance with the court order.
