A group of lawyers have filed contempt proceedings against the Department of State Services – DSS, and its Director General, Yusuf Bichi, at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The legal practitioners are contending that by the subsisting judgments and orders given in separate cases by Justices M. A. Hassan, Hamza Muazu and Bello Kawu – all of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory – the DSS boss ought to have ordered for Emefiele’s release from detention.
The lawyers, led by Maxwell Opara and Ahmed Tijani, filed Forms 48 and 49, which they said constitute the initial processes in committal proceedings.
They recalled that in a judgement, Justice Hassan restrained the respondents, particularly the DSS, from arresting, detaining, or interrogating Emefiele over offences relating to terrorism financing, money laundering, round tripping, financial crimes of national security dimension, among others.
The lawyers averred that in spite “of the clear and positive orders of Justice Hassan, the State Security Service still went ahead to arrest and detain Mr. Emefiele and has so detained him for well over a month while shopping for evidence, which does not exist”.
Speaking after filing the documents in the court’s Registry, Opara said his group ”will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion and ensure that …Bichi is sent to prison”.
Opara said the conviction of the DSS boss would serve as a lesson to other heads of security agencies and top government officials that contempt of court and gross abuse of their offices for personal vendetta would no longer be tolerated.
The lawyer urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to sack the DSS boss for allegedly misleading the President to think that Emefiele committed heinous crimes against the state.
Also, the Conference of Nigeria Parties (CNPP) and a coalition of civil society groups, under the aegis of the Coalition of National Civil Society Organisations (CNCSOs), have urged President Tinubu to follow the rule of law in prosecuting Emefiele.
A joint statement by NCPP’s Deputy National Publicity Secretary, James Ezema, and the National Secretary of the CSOs, Alhaji Ali Abacha, noted that “playing the same APC card against Emefiele will clearly portray the President in bad light after pledging to uphold the rule of law in his June 12 message to Nigerians”.
They added: “Detaining the suspended CBN governor for over a month without trial, only to charge him for illegal possession of firearms and ammunition at a time the court has already ordered his release, is totally against the principles of the rule of law, fairness, and justice that Mr. President has preached since May 29.