The case against the suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele took a surprising twist last week. Rather than release him as ordered by the Court, the Department of State Services, DSS, told Nigerians that it had filed a two-count charge against him; he was alleged to be in possession of illegal arms and ammunition. Nigerians found that news amusing.
Following that announcement, 60 lawyers under the aegis, Concerned Lawyers called for the immediate sack of the Director General of the DSS, over what they described as a serial breach of the rule of law and disregard for court orders. The lawyers who filed contempt proceedings against the DSS DG, called for his immediate removal over his repeated actions that allegedly constitute an abuse of the rights of Nigerians being held in custody over alleged trumped up charges.
Reactions have continued to trail the matter with many Nigerians calling on the DSS to obey the law While discussing the issue during Arise TV programme, Rufai Oseni, one of the anchors, said “It’s sad that we have our democracy where we don’t respect our laws. To some people, our constitution is just a piece of paper, and it’s sad that that’s the kind of republic we’ve built.
“Our constitution states expressly the rights of citizens but we have governments, agencies, violating those rights every time. We cannot build a state without the rule of law but the Nigerian state we have today, is akin to a state where some people are obviously bigger than the law. So our security authorities can pick you up, use the same law to keep you there for many days.”
Oseni frowned at the fact that “It took the law court to say, release the man, Emefiele, or, charge him to court. After taking private jet of our own tax payers to carry him from Lagos, hound him, laid all sorts of accusations and insinuations, all we see is just a two-count charge of possessing weapons without licensing.
“There are many non-state actors that parade guns in live videos, can the DSS kindly ask those people what rights they have to carry those weapons because we can’t build a state that is phony and funny at the same time.
“Mr Bawa too, for over 30 days, you are yet to complete your investigations to tell us what he has done. When will he be charged to court? We’ve built a country that once you fall out of favour with those in power, they deal with you and mess you up- public scorn, and after that, they move on like nothing.
“This is a wake-up call for the state security. If you have a case against anybody, charge the person to court instead of this prolonged detention in the name of investigation; its violating the rights of people.”
Oseni seems to agree with Nigerians who believe Emefiele’s incarceration is the government taking vengeance on him.
“Even a blind man knows that this is vendetta against Emefiele. Even the deaf hears that this is vendetta against Emefiele. The president gave himself out when he went to a foreign country and called the CBN rotten. He has made his point known as regards this.
“They’ve kept him there for a long month, ransacked his home and if they found anything incriminating they should be able to charge him after a month.”
Maintaining his stance on the kind of democracy Nigeria is building, he said, “So, it’s either we are building a funny democracy which is a joke to the world because it has no respect for the rule of law or, we are building a phony democracy which is a fake, sugar democracy and militarism.
“Look at the non-state actor brandishing a weapon and the DSS have not been able to do anything.
Do you blame him? This same non-state actor goes ahead to claim that he is so important that the president invited him. So, when the president invited non-state actor and he took a swipe at the military, an important institution of this country and nothing has been done to him, I’ve been proven right when I said some people are bigger than the law in this country.”
Dr Reuben Abati who began first, by chronicling the genesis of Emefiele’s incarceration which according to him began on June 10 with his suspension and subsequent arrest, explained that “On July 13, the Federal High Court in Abuja ruled that it’s unconstitutional to detain a man, keep him in your custody and not charge him to court.
It’s either you charge him to court or release him. That same day we were told by the DSS Spokesperson that it has filed charges against Emefiele; that he was in illegal possession of fire arms and ammunition.
Since then, we have not heard whether he was granted bail or was his plea taken.”
Dr Abati stated that the 60 lawyers are simply saying that “since the federal high court gave the order, the DSS has been acting in contempt of the order of court and it’s a matter. So they want Mr Yusuf Bichi removed and remanded in prison. They want the DSS to release mr Godwin Emefiele since no concrete matter has been established against him.”
He further noted that the basic issue here is about the rule of law and even the DSS is not above the law, adding that “The constitution says if an offence is bailable, grant bail. And if the issue they are putting across is illegal possession of firearms, that’s a bailable offence. So why has he not been allowed to explore that his right?”
While pointing out that most Nigerians have concluded that the ill-treatment of Emefiele is vengeance on him because of the naira redesign policy which they said inflicted pain on them, Dr Abati said “People talk about the independence of the CBN, the CBN governor could not have acted without the imprimatur of the president of Nigeria at that time- Muhammadu Buhari, under Section 19 and 20 of the CBN Act, and all the powers given to the president of Nigeria, under Section 5 of the constitution. So, if Emefiele did anything, did he not act on the authority of the president? So this is a matter of the rule of law.”
Ayo Mairo-Ese concord with Dr Abati that, “The matter is about the rule of law. It goes beyond the individuals – Mr Godwin Emefiele and Mr Bawa.
I like the portion where the lawyers are bringing in the responsibility of President Bola Tinubu. In previous administration, one of the key criticisms was the flouting and consistent disobedience to the rule of law.
“Under President Buhari’s administration, there were a number of times where the government outrightly did not obey court orders, rulings, and judgment. And it seems as if this is the line this administration wants to tow. This is a dangerous line.”
She added that on the day of his inauguration, president Tinubu in his speech said he will govern according to the constitution and in obedience to the rule of law.
Also, having tasked other African leaders to ensure they administer governance according to the rule of law at a recent AU meeting in Kenya, Ayo noted that “it is not a thing of integrity for President Tinubu to go out and act in the stead of keeping the rule of law while here in Nigeria, it’s being flouted, stressing that “The DSS Chief is not above the law, he has whom he reports to which is the president of the country.
So, while we call on the courts to bring him to order, we must call on his employers to speak up. The president’s silence in this matter is loud.”
•Written By Prisca Sam-Duru
