60 lawyers sue DSS over refusal to release Emefiele
Constitutional and human right lawyers in Abuja, numbering about 60, on Monday, stormed the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to commence a committal to prison proceedings against the Director General of the Directorate of State Services (DSS), Mr Yusuf Bichi, over alleged violation of multiple judgments and orders of court directing the release of former Central Bank Governor (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, from custody.
The consortium of lawyers led by Mr. Maxwell Opara and Ahmed Tijani, specifically are asking the court to commit the DSS DG to prison until he purges himself of the contempt.
In their motion filed before the court for the issuing of Form 48 and Form 49, which are the forms to commence proceedings to commit a contemnor to prison, the lawyers said by the judgments and orders of Justice M. A. Hassan, Justice Hamza Muazu and Justice Bello Kawu, the DG DSS ought to have released Emefiele from detention.
In the affidavit in support of the application, the consortium deposed to the fact Justice M. A. Hassan restrained the respondents in that suit, particularly, the State Security Service from arresting, detaining, or interrogating Emefiele for offences connected to terrorism financing, money laundering, round tripping, financial crimes of national security dimension, etc.
It is their deposition that despite the clear and positive orders of Justice Hassan, the DSS still went ahead to arrest and detain Emefiele and has so detained him for well over a month while shopping for evidence which does not exist.
Addressing newsmen shortly after filing their processes at the registry of the court, Opara said that the group will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion and ensure that the DSS DG is sent to prison so as to serve as a deterrent to other heads of security agencies and top government officials that contempt of court and gross abuse of their offices for personal vendetta will no longer be tolerated.
Meanwhile, the lawyers have called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately relieve Bichi of his appointment as DG SSS for having obviously misled the president that Emefiele had committed heinous crimes against the state only for him to now file a charge of possession of a validly registered pump action rifle against him.
“Is it not clear enough to Nigerians that the SSS is persecuting Mr. Emefiele if after holding him for 5 weeks they can only file a ridiculous charge of possessing a validly registered pump action gun?” Opara asked.
According to him, “If possessing a validly registered pump action gun is a crime worthy of being held in perpetuity, what has the SSS done to the person threatening Nigerians from a particular section of the country with an assault rifle? This clearly shows the travail of Mr. Emefiele is more for political reasons than for any other.”
He concluded by questioning that assuming there was no valid court order, since the DSS had been unable to find any evidence against Emefiele, he was entitled to his release and how much more now that three different courts have ordered his release, the DSS is still holding him in unlawful detention and violating all his rights, hence the reason why the consortium will ensure Bichi ends up being committed to prison.
