A pan-Nigerian advocacy group, United for Truth, Integrity and Justice Inc. (UTIJ) has expressed disappointment over the arrest and continued detention of former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, by men of the Department of State Services (DSS), describing the development as a pure witch-hunt.
Emefiele was arrested on June 10, 2023, a day after he was suspended by President Bola Tinubu, and he is still being held in the custody of the DSS.
The group expressed disappointment and rejection of the modus operandi of the DSS in a press statement issued by its executive director, Prince Uneke Ekwaogbu, and secretary, Hon. Musa Abubakar.
The group noted that arresting Emefiele, despite a subsisting court order barring his arrest, makes a mockery of the nation’s democracy. It, therefore, urged President Bolas Tinubu, well-meaning Nigerians and human rights to prevail on the DSS to release Emefiele out of respect for the court and the rule of law.
Questioning the rationale behind Emefiele’s detention, the group wants the DSS to explain where the case of terrorism and financial crime of national security magnitude that was preferred against the former CBN governor is and why he is still in detention after three courts have quashed his arrest and detention.
The group also wondered “if filing laughable charges of possession of a registered pump action, which is a self-protection gun, is the reason to keep him in detention in perpetuity.”
Still wondering why the DSS is witchhunting Emefiele, the group, demands that “the DG DSS should resign from office or be suspended by President Tinubu for persecuting Emefiele and the inability to produce evidence to back up his over six months allegation of terrorism against him.”
The group also said that “the DSS should, as a matter of urgency and natural justice, free Emefiele from its detention, and obey the rule of law.
“The DSS should also stop tainting Tinubu’s rule of law records with illegal detention of Emefiele without evidence to back the frivolous allegation.”
Other organisations that have called for immediate release of Emefiele include the Civil Society Central Coordinating Council (CSCCC), Arewa Consultative Youth Movement (ACYM) and Ohanaeze Youth Movement (OYM).
Similarly, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Joseph Daudu, a senior advocate of Nigeria, human rights lawyers and a rights advocacy group, the Centre for Social Justice and Accountability (CSJA) have charged the Federal Government to strictly adhere to the principle of rule of law, fairness and justice in the handling of the Emefiele case.
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