EMEFIELE: NBA CONDEMNS ALTERCATION BETWEEN DSS OPERATIVES AND OFFICERS OF THE NIGERIAN CORRECTIONAL SERVICE
The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, has condemned the altercation between the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Correctional Service at a Lagos High Court on Tuesday over who to take custody of the embattled ex-governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
The NBA President, Mr Yakubu Maikyau (SAN), in a statement made available to newsmen by the National Publicity Secretary of the association, Akorede Habeeb Lawal on Wednesday, condemned the brazen disrespect for the judicial process and sanctity of the court premises.
The statement said, “the NBA, particularly denounced the DSS for its peculiar part in the disgraceful and unlawful conduct, considering the fact that the Court had earlier ordered that the suspended CBN Governor be kept in a Correctional Centre pending the perfection of his bail conditions.”
According to the NBA boss, “the courts and judicial processes remain the barometer by which the conduct of persons or agencies of government are gauged in assessing the rule of law.”
Maikyau also described the incident as “further evidence of the lack of discipline and absence of professionalism that continues to plague key security institutions in Nigeria, which, without doubt, is largely responsible for the limited progress in achieving a coordinated response to security concerns across the country.”
“A situation where officers of Federal Government agencies engage in a fight as witnessed by the public, for whatever reason, is antithetical to our security as a nation and creates a recipe for anarchy and chaos.
“Both the DSS and the NCoS are important institutions dealing with national security and administration of justice respectively, and the need for them to work in concert towards attaining justice in a secured Nigeria cannot be over-emphasised.”
“While it is difficult not to hold the leadership of the two federal government agencies directly responsible for the shameful and disgraceful conduct of the personnel, the NBA President called on the two agencies, “to take immediate disciplinary measures against the officers involved in this disgraceful conduct.”
In addition to this disciplinary measure, Maikyau also advised “a complete overhaul of the institutions and a total reorientation of the personnel, to achieve professionalism and ensure synergy in the discharge of their respective constitutional responsibilities.”
The NBA, he said, remains committed to the promotion and protection of the principles of the rule of law and due process, within a safe and secured Nigeria.
