Abuja — Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Maitama, Abuja, yesterday, struck out an application secretly filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) seeking the court's permission to detain the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, for another 14 days.
The judge struck out the ex parte application for being an abuse of court process as well as outside the jurisdiction of the court.
Emefiele had been in the custody of the secret service since June 10, when he was arrested in Lagos and whisked to the agency's headquarters in Abuja. He was kept in flagrant disobedience of the rule of law, for which security agencies, especially the DSS, have become notorious.
The latest application, which was struck out by the court, was actually aimed at keeping the suspended CBN governor in perpetual custody in the guise of "fresh evidence" against him.
While Emefiele was suspended from office on alleged grievous offences, including abuse of office, economic sabotage, among others, the federal government, curiously, filed a charge of alleged unlawful possession of firearms against him, seemingly confirming widespread claims that the former CBN governor was being persecuted rather than prosecuted.
However, when the suit marked FCT/HC/M/12105/2023 came up for hearing, Muazu directed the counsel to the DSS, Victor Ejelonu, to address the court on jurisdiction in view of the provisions of Sections 293 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015, which vests exclusive rights on the Magistrate Court to grant detention order. The counsel applied and withdrew the matter.
It would seem that what the DSS did was an attempt to use the court to legalise what the service did in Lagos, where they abducted Emefiele from the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS).
Condemnation and outrage have since trailed the filing of the ex parte application by the DSS before the FCT High Court seeking an order to detain Emefiele for a further 14 days.
This application followed the re-arrest of the suspended CBN governor from the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos by the security agency after the ruling that he should be remanded in the custody of the Correctional Centre pending the perfection of his bail, which was granted by Justice Nicholas Oweibo.
Abuja-based constitutional lawyer, Nnamdi Mba, in his reaction said, "You cannot be charging someone to court yet you cannot obey the same court. What the DSS is doing is tantamount to intimidating the courts."
Another lawyer, C. C. Nwudo, who analysed the situation stated, "Ordinarily, when a person is brought to court and takes his plea, it is no longer the duty of the security agency that brought the defendant to court to determine where the person will be held in custody but the duty of the court.
"Hence, once a defendant is granted bail, except the judge specifically mentions otherwise, the men of the Nigeria Correctional Service take custody of such person until the bail conditions are perfected.
"In the case of Emefiele, the DSS practically abducted him from the custody of the correctional service and have now filed for an order seeking to further detain him for 14 days, when they have held him consecutively for over six weeks and have exhausted the maximum two previous orders to detain him for 28 days.
"Except they tell a bunch of lies in their application to the judge, no judge, knowing the true facts of this matter, can grant them such an application. I am glad to hear that the judge courageously struck out their application."
Another lawyer, Mr. Hassan Omale, said the abduction of Emefiele by the DSS from the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service without court order was "unlawful and outright criminal and whoever gave the order for such to happen ought to be removed from office immediately."
Omale stated, "With the application having been struck out by the court, the DSS is now in a very difficult position to continue to further detain Emefiele, who has been in their custody for more than six weeks.
"They cannot continue to hold him illegally and they cannot get another magistrate order to overrule the order of the High Court since the High Court does not have jurisdiction to grant them such order.
"This is yet another judicial loss suffered by the DSS against Emefiele in a case that has been dubbed by many as persecution and personal vendetta."
Meanwhile, President General of Agbor Community Union (ACU), Chief Larry Egun Onyeche, hailed the court in Lagos for granting bail to Emefiele.
Onyeche, who is the Imarin Dein of Agbor Kingdom, stated that the Lagos High Court should be commended for granting bail to the suspended CBN governor, who according to him, did not commit any offence warranting his arrest and detention by the DSS for six weeks.
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Onyeche noted that Emefiele, before his suspension, did his best to grow the Nigerian economy, hence, he should not be subjected to any ridiculous punishment by the security agency. He said the action of the court, which granted him bail, showed that Emefiele did not commit any crime as alleged.
Onyeche also condemned the drama that ensued between the two federal agencies at the court on Tuesday.
According to the Agbor community leader, "It is very clear that it is the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) that has the responsibility of keeping Emefiele in custody pending the perfection of his bail conditions. For the DSS to refuse NCS to have Emefiele in custody means there is much to it than meets the eye. The DSS has to tell the world Emefiele's crime.
"Continuously keeping Emefiele without clear cut reasons is highly condemnable. I say without equivocation that the federal government should direct the DSS to release Emefiele immediately in line with the court order.
