A group of lawyers under the platform of Lawyers in Defence of Democracy (LDD), has condemned the alleged endless use of fabricated charges by the Director General of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) to continue to hold former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in illegal detention.
They consequently called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately sack the D.G. of DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, for what they described as afterthought charges of breach of contract procurement law and for dragging the agency into a matter outside its jurisdiction.
According to the lawyers, Bichi should be sacked for pioneering the affairs of the organisation in a manner that appeared to have lost focus of its statutory mandate.
The lawyers’ position was informed by the involvement of DSS in the arrest and subsequent charges preferred against Emefiele.
Describing the fresh 20-count charge as forum shopping and politically motivated, the lawyers wondered why the DSS should abandon their statutory mandate of internal security to issues bordering on procurement of vehicles.
Spokesperson of the group, Ahmed Yusuf Tijani, who spoke to journalists after the aborted arraignment of the former CBN governor on Thursday, equally called on President Tinubu to review the mondus operandi of DSS.
He said: “We are here to witness the arraignment of the suspended CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele. You will recall that on July 25, we were in Lagos at Ikoyi Federal High Court, where the DSS arraigned the former CBN governor on a two-count charge bordering on illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
“We condemn that arraignment and fortunately, the court granted bail to Emefiele, and you saw the show of shame that took place in court on 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 have gone back and look at the charges they preferred against him and realised that they have goofed. Today, they wanted to arraign him on a 20-count charge bordering on procurement. It appears to us that DSS has lost focus of its constitutional and statutory mandate. The DSS was established to handle matters that border on internal security, such as terrorism.
“Before now, they told us that Emefiele has cases to answer on matters that have to do with terrorism. We were expecting that the charges will reflect terrorism count charges. Surprisingly, what we saw was matters bordering on procurement. That he gave contracts for the award of Land Cruisers. This is a charade and making mockery of prosecution. We can’t take this. What the DSS is doing is forum shopping.”
Adding: “This is an organization that appears to us to have outlived its usefulness in this country. We call on President Tinubu to review the modus operandi of DSS.”
The group equally called on the newly appointed Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), to review the activities of DSS.
“We watched him speak during his screening at the National Assembly, how he articulated his points on the justice sector, which include reforms, and how he condemned executive recklessness. We believe he can correctly fix the justice sector of the country. This is the time for him to act, Tijani observed.
“The DSS is no longer the organisation that was formed then. It has derailed, and we call on well-meaning Nigerians to ensure that DSS sticks to its mandate or be scrapped. This is our position”, he said.
Another member of the group, Okere Kingdom, explained in his contribution how DSS had in December last year framed Emefiele for financing terrorism and actions that undermined national security.
“It all started in December last year when the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, refused to grant a black market injunction at the request of the DSS. This is purely a political vendetta.”
He therefore called on DSS to lead by example by publicly publishing its audited account of the procurement of its operational vehicles. (Guardian)
