Godwin Emefiele in court
Some Nigerian lawyers have described as a show of shame the behaviour of operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) who fought off officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service to re-arrest suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.
Emefiele, though granted bail and asked to be in custody of the Custodial Service was bundled into a waiting vehicle by the DSS after a fracas with Prison officials thus spurning the court’s decision.
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana following what happened asked the Federal Government to direct the DSS to obey court orders.
Reacting to the tussle on court premises, Falana, in a statement, regretted that DSS operatives would disobey the directives of the court in the manner that they did.
He said: “The Federal Government should also ensure that the orders of the Federal High Court are obeyed forthwith.
“Notwithstanding the avowed commitment of the Bola Tinubu administration to operate under the rule of law, a team of State Security Service officials brazenly disobeyed the orders of the Federal High Court, which admitted Mr. Godwin Emefiele to bail in respect of the offence of illegal possession of firearms.
“For daring to comply with the orders of the Federal High Court, officials of the Correctional Centre were attacked by gun-toting officers of the SSS.”
He argued that in view of the stern warning of President Tinubu that inter-agency physical attacks would not be permitted under his administration, the security officers who attacked officials of the Ikoyi Correctional Centre ought to be fished out and sanctioned.
“All public officers should draw the necessary lessons from the current travails of Mr. Emefiele. As Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, he recklessly displayed arrogance and impunity by disobeying the orders of several courts, including the Supreme Court of Nigeria!” he said.
Another senior lawyer, Jiti Ogunye, also condemned the conduct of the DSS operatives thusly:
“As a Nigerian, not just as a lawyer, I found what happened in court today (Tuesday) very outrageous and indefensible,” Ogunye stated during a live appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“That act affronts our sense of decency. It affronts our sense of what is basic and what is acceptable in a court of law and its prescience. It’s unacceptable.
“Ordinarily, what should have followed is that the Correctional Service would take custody of him because there would have been a remand or detention warrant issued by the court directed to the deputy controller of Ikoyi Prisons to take custody of the person of Emefiele and not the DSS.
“There shouldn’t have been any reason therefore for the DSS to intervene at that point to effect his arrest,” Ogunye said.
Another lawyer , Barr Mike Okafor, who spoke to Political Economist NG while also condemning the action of DSS, urged the judiciary to stand up for its rights and privileges, adding that openly disobeying court orders as the DSS did is an invitation to anarchy.
He warned that if the DSS is allowed to get away with this including inflicting injury on a Prison official, then they would do worse things to the helplessness of the rest of Nigerians.
