Abuja high court gives DSS one week to either charge Godwin Emefiele or set him free

DEPARTMENT of State Services (DSS) officials have been given one week by a Federal Capital Territory high court to produce former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele or set him free.

About a month ago, Mr Emefiele was taken into custody by the DSS, just hours after President Bola Tinubu suspended him from office. He had been as picked up from his home in Lagos and then flown to Abuja, from where he was driven to the State Security Service headquarters in the Asokoro District of the capital.

Last year, the SSS accused the governor of a barrage of offences and secretly requested a court order in December to arrest him on allegations of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and of economic crimes of a national security dimension. This request was, however, rejected by the Federal High Court in Abuja because the SSS failed to present sufficient evidence to justify issuing of an arrest warrant.

Mr Emefiele also faced criticism over his controversial foray into partisan politics, which saw him seek the presidential ticket of the ruling All Progressive Congress. Support groups were backing his candidacy in a move which attracted widespread condemnation, with experts expressing worries about the governor’s impartiality and the autonomy of the CBN.

After spending a month in detention, Mr Emefiele's lawyers have managed to the Justice Hamza Muazu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory to issue a one week ultimatum to the DSS. They now have seven days to either charge the suspended governor to court or set him free.

Earlier today, the judge issued the order while delivering ruling in a fundamental human rights suit instituted against the DSS and others by Mr Emefiele. Justice Muazu held that the DSS has the power to carry out its constitutional duties of effecting arrests and ensuring the prevention of internal crime but added that such duties must be carried out within the ambit of the law.

He said that the arrest power of the DSS was not beyond the stipulated conditions under which a Nigerian citizen must be held and for how long. Mr Emefiele had dragged the attorney-general of the federation and the director general of the DSS to court, seeking the enforcement of his fundamental human rights to freedom of movement.

In the suit instituted on his behalf by Joseph Daudu, the suspended CBN governor had applied that his arrest and detention since June 10 without a valid order of court be voided and set aside. Mr Emefiele also demanded compensation to the tune of N5m ($6,422) as exemplary damages for his unlawful detention.