The current travails of the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa, and the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, are causing Nigerians who had anticipated a fresh era in Nigeria under President Bola Tinubu to reconsider their stance, Wale Igbintade writes
Not until a human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN) raised the issue, many Nigerians did not remember that the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, is still in detention. Bawa who is currently being held in the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) in Abuja since June 14, 2023, is being probed for alleged financial impropriety under his watch.
Falana in a statement issued in Lagos, said the remand order for Bawa had expired hence the Department of State Services had no legal grounds to continue to detain him. He argued that Bawa’s detention for 67 days without trial is against the provisions of Section 493 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act(ACJA) 2015, or Section 35 of the Constitution of Nigeria. He added that under the Act, the cumulative lifespan of a remand order is 56 days.
The human rights lawyer also said the federal government should ensure that the rights of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele and Bawa are respected by the DSS and the office of the Director of Public Prosecution in the Federal Ministry of Justice, though he noted that the duo had a penchant for disobeying the orders of the courts when they were in office.
“In view of the fact that Abdulrasheed Bawa has not been charged with any criminal offence whatsoever, the State Security Service ought to have released him from custody. I am not unaware of the claim that Mr. Bawa is being detained on the basis of a remand order issued by a Magistrate Court in the Federal Capital Territory.
“It ought to be pointed out that the remand order has become spent, invalid and illegal as no magistrate has the power under Section 493 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 or Section 35 of the Constitution of Nigeria to authorise the detention of a criminal suspect for 67 days without trial.”
He added, “Indeed, under the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the cumulative lifespan of a remand order is 56 days. Therefore, having exceeded the detention period permitted by the Administration of Criminal Justice Act and the Constitution of Nigeria, the State Security Service should be directed to release Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa from illegal custody without any further delay.
“The federal government should ensure that the rights of Messrs Emefiele and Bawa are respected by the State Security Service and the office of the Director of Public Prosecution in the Federal Ministry of Justice, even though the duo had a penchant for disobeying the orders of the courts when they were in office.
“The plight of both suspects should be a lesson for all public officers in Nigeria who always behave as if there will be no tomorrow. However, the Government which rules by law is under a legal obligation not to breach the fundamental rights of citizens except in a manner prescribed by the Constitution of Nigeria.”
Bawa and Emefiele have been held by the DSS since their arrest last June. In July, Falana urged the DSS to promptly free Bawa and Emefiele. Alternatively, he asked the government to bring the detainees to court if there was evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Consequently, while Emefiele was charged with illegal possession of firearms before the Lagos Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, nothing was said about the EFCC chairman, Bawa.
There’s widespread curiosity about the exact offence that led to Bawa’s prolonged detention without a trial. Some suspect hidden agendas from powerful figures to keep Bawa out of circulation indefinitely. Otherwise, they question whether 56 days are not sufficient to press charges against anyone.
Why is it that Nigerian security agencies would always want to detain a suspect before searching for evidence?
Emefiele, on the other hand, was apprehended in Lagos on June 10, transported in a white pickup van to a waiting aircraft and flown to Abuja, where he has been confined at the secret police headquarters.
For more than a month, Emefiele was held by the DSS without any charges being brought against him. Only under the order of a high court did they finally present a charge: illegal possession of a firearm and bullets. This sparked immediate debate, with some questioning whether possessing such an outdated weapon justifies Emefiele’s arrest, and raising concerns about how non-state actors openly carrying assault weapons are treated.
The firearms charge against Emefiele was later dropped by the DSS, and the Lagos court swiftly struck it out. Justice Nicholas Oweibo ruled that Emefiele should be held by the correctional service until his bail conditions were fulfilled. Despite this, the DSS insisted on keeping Emefiele and re-arrested him. Presently, the secret police have accused Emefiele and a female CBN official, Mrs. Sa’adatu Ramalan-Yaro, of involvement in a procurement fraud totalling over N6 billion. Thus, within about eight months, the accusations against Emefiele have shifted from terrorism to firearms and now to breaching the Procurement Act.
These allegations are hard to unpack. Take the firearms possession matter for instance. Why did the DSS drop the charge after keeping Emefiele for over a month? Has the secret police not infringed on his rights? Has it not left more questions than answers by first arresting and detaining a man before deciding what his offence was?
While Nigerians were looking forward to a new Nigeria where life has meaning and citizens are happy and patriotic, actions such as the one being meted to Bawa and Emefiele, regrettably, paint Nigeria black as a Banana Republic where there is no law and order.
The way the two men, who had presided over the exalted offices, are being treated like common Currently, lawyers and civil society organisations are not impressed with the DSS; some have only the harshest words for the government agency. Even the manner in which DSS officials roughened up a correctional service chief in their bid to take Emefiele away against the orders of the judge has angered the lawyers.
Some legal professionals on the platform, Lawyers in Defence of Democracy (LDD) have accused the DSS of using fabricated charges to keep Emefiele in illegal detention. Spokesman of the group, Ahmed Yusuf Tijani, told reporters that the federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos did well to grant Emefiele bail when he was arraigned on July 25 on firearms possession charges.
He said “we condemned that arraignment, and fortunately, the court granted bail to Emefiele, and you saw the show of shame that took place in court that very day. We condemned both the arraignment and the charges, and we told you that the gun in question was a dane gun. I think they went back and looked at the charges and realised that they goofed.”
Another group, the African Centre for Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR), called the Emefiele saga a” witch-hunt”, an “unfair treatment” of the former apex bank chief.
Questions have also been raised as to whether the words of President Tinubu have emboldened officials of the secret police to throw caution and due diligence to the winds just to bring Emefiele to heel.
On his trip to France in late June, Tinubu had told a Nigerian audience that the economic sector was “rotten” under Emefiele as CBN governor. “The man is in the hands of the authorities; something is being done about it,” he added.
Is that ‘something’ prosecution or persecution? This is the question begging for answers.
According to a public affairs analyst, Luke Onyekakeyah, “When people at that level are being treated with utter ignominy, is there any hope for the ordinary citizen? That is why Nigerians are seen as chickens that can be killed at any time by different forces acting against them. Nigeria’s ruling class has a penchant to treat people that have served the country in the shabbiest way once they lose favour. The cycle of use and dump is abhorable. Once the one has lost favour with the government, he or she is as good as trash, only good for the most inhuman treatment. No human rights whatsoever.”
Onyekakeyah submitted that while people who abused their high offices should not be left unprosecuted, lawful prosecution should follow the due process of law and order and not degenerate into witch-hunting and persecution in the manner Emefiele, Bawa and several other individuals have been subjected to in the DSS custody. He concluded that once prosecution is in place and court orders are flagrantly disobeyed, it is no longer prosecution but persecution and witch-hunting.
Late last week, two other Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Rotimi Jacobs and Kemi Pinheiro, added their voices to call for Emefiele and Bawa to be released, describing their prolonged detention as against the rule of law.
(Thisday)
