A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court has stopped the Department of State Security Services (DSS) and the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, from arresting and detaining the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over alleged terrorism.
Justice A.H. Hassan in an order made on December 19, also restrained the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN); the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the CBN from taking any action against Emefiele.
The orders followed an application by a civil society organisation, the Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership, in a suit marked FCT/HC/CV/GAR/41/2022.
Justice Hassan ruled that “it is further ordered that the fourth respondent, their agents, servants, privies and all officers under their control and command are hereby restrained from instigating the arrest or arresting, interrogating and detaining Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank Governor in respect of any matter or policy decision on the economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or for any connected purposes except by an order of a superior court.”
The court also granted an order of substituted service on the fifth defendant/respondent, the CBN, by delivering the originating summons and other processes to the legal department of the bank, at its headquarters in Abuja.
The exparte application was moved by counsel to the applicant, Emeka Ozoani (SAN), asking the court to restrain the respondents “whether by themselves, their officers, agents, servants, privies or acting through any person or persons howsoever from inviting, arresting and/or detaining the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele with particular allegations of acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities, or any other manner, howsoever, that may interfere with his rights to freedom of movement, personal liberty, human dignity or in any way interfere with the performance and discharge of his official functions and duties as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice.”
The DSS had earlier in an exparte application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022 sought an order to arrest the CBN governor over alleged acts of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension. But the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, on December 9 rejected the application on the grounds that the DSS failed to provide sufficient evidence to warrant the issuance of an arrest warrant against the CBN governor.
Granting the request, trial judge, Justice M. A. Hassan, ordered: “That any form of invitation to Emefiele, the Governor of CBN in the exercise of his statutory powers, functions and duties and continuous threats by the 4th respondent (DSS) to surrender his powers to them over trumped up allegations of terrorism financing and fraudulent practices, etc., constitute a flagrant breach of his rights to personal liberty, dignity of human person, right to policy making powers, freedom of thought, conscience and religion and movement as respectively provided and enshrined under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement Act and, therefore, unconstitutional and illegal.
“That the 4th respondent (DSS) acted wrongfully and illegally in instigating the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria against Emefiele in respect of the exercise of his statutory duty relating to the issuance of monetary policies and directives in the interest of National security and economy.
BRANDPOWER recalls that Hon. Gudaji Kazaure representing the Kazaure, Roni, Gwiwa, Yankwashi Constituency of Jigawa State set off a storm recently in a trending live radio programme where he accused the CBN Governor of monumental fraud in stamp duty collections. The DSS then followed up with its own allegation of terrorism financing against the embattled governor. Critics however believe that Emefiele is being hounded because of the CBN’s recent monetary policies.
