There’s growing outrage following the violent clash between the officials of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), over the custody of suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, at the premises of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos on Tuesday.
The secret police and prison officials clashed over the agency to take custody of the suspended and embattled apex bank chief after Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos admitted Emefiele to bail in the sum of the N20m.
In the melee that ensued, a prison officer’s cloth was almost torn into shreds before reason prevailed.
Reacting to the unprofessional conduct, Constitutional Lawyers have condemned the DSS, calling for the suspension and arrest of the Director General of the agency, Yusuf Bichi.
The constitutional lawyers led by Barr. Tijani Ahmed in a statement called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to save democracy and the image of the judiciary by immediately ordering the arrest of DSS DG for the behaviour of his operatives.
They lamented DSS’ continuous total disrespect and disregard for the rule of law, saying that something urgent needed to be done by the government to put an end to this abuse of power.
The statement reads, “It’s a big shame and insult, that the judiciary arm of government was disrespected by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) who fought officials of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) over who would take custody of suspended Central Bank of Nigeria, Governor Godwin.
“Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos admitted Emefiele to bail in the sum of the N20 million. The Judge ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the correctional center pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions. Shortly after the ruling, DSS operatives strategically positioned their Hilux Pick Up van used to bring Emefiele to court, in a manner suggesting that they wanted to abduct him to their detention centre.
“According to reports, this prompted Emefiele’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and other lawyers to raise an alarm about their client’s planned re-arrest by the secret police. After the court ruling, the suspended CBN governor holed up inside the courtroom with his lawyers. However, when the prison officials moved to take Emefiele into custody pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions, the secret police challenged them and it led to a fight.
“Over the months the DSS has been on rampage, first they disregarded court rulings barring them from arresting Emefiele. Again they disregarded court ruling ordering them to release him. Now they are disregarding court ruling ordering his release. At this point the secret police had proven to be a rogue agency with no regard for the rule of law. How can an agency of the government violate bail order? Not once , not twice!!! We call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to save democracy and image of the judiciary by immediately ordering the arrest of DSS DG for the rogue behaviour of his operatives. This cannot be allowed to continue. Also the DSS can’t rearrest Emefiele until he perfects his bail and released.”