Shameful Action
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Nigerian security service to investigate its shameful action in the re-arrest of former central bank governor
The Nigerian security service known as the State Security Service (SSS) is to investigate its show of shame at a Lagos court on Tuesday in which it scuffled with prison officers.
The secret police and prison officials clashed after Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos, the Nigerian commercial capital admitted the former central bank governor Godwin Emefiele to bail in the sum of the N20m.
The judge ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the correctional centre pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions. In utter contempt of a court ruling, the masked and heavily armed SSS operatives suggested that they wanted to take him back to their detention centre.
Emefiele’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and other lawyers then raised the alarm about their client’s planned re-arrest by the secret police.
After the court ruling, the suspended CBN governor remained 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.
To avoid a gun battle the lawyers allowed Emefiele to be taken away by the security service.
On Wednesday, the SSS known as the Department of State Services (DSS) issued a statement through its spokesman Peter Afunaya said “The DSS has initiated detailed investigations into the matter. This is with a view to identifying the role played by specific persons as well as undertaking disciplinary actions if necessary.
“The agency, which notes the “undue overzealousness” by everyone involved in the incident, “has tremendous respect for the judiciary” and will not deliberately undermine it, he added.
The Director General of the SSS (DGSS) Yusuf Magaji Bichi nor the president Bola Tinubu are yet to comment on the service’s disregard for a court ruling.
The trial of the suspended CBN governor for illegal weapon possession has been fixed for November 14, 2023.
Akowe with reports from Lagos
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