Some lawyers have expressed reservations following the violent clash between officials of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) and operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The two government institutions clashed over the custody of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, at the premises of the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Tuesday, July 25.
Politics Nigeria reports that this came after Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos admitted Emefiele to bail for the N20 million.
In the melee that ensued, a prison officer’s cloth was almost torn into shreds before reason prevailed.
Reacting to the development, 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, asked President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately order the arrest of DSS DG for the behaviour of his operatives.
The statement read:
“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 N20 million.
The Judge ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the correctional centre 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 rearrest 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, leading to a fight.
“Over the months, the DSS has been on a rampage; first, they disregarded court rulings barring them from arresting Emefiele. Again they disregarded the court ruling ordering them to release him. Now they are disregarding the 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.”
