The Department of State Services (DSS) has said it is not illegally detaining suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele.
The DSS, said it applied for a detention order from a magistrate court immediately it’s application to legally detain Emefiele for 14 days was struck out on July 27 by Justice Edward Okpe of a federal high court in Abuja.
DSS spokesperson, Peter Afunanya, who claimed that they’ve always obeyed court orders, said the findings from the preliminary investigation are “quite shocking”.
He said ; “Emefiele was arraigned before Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the federal high court, Ikoyi, Lagos, on 25th July 2023 for illegal possession of arms and ammunition.
“The service had long issued a press statement over the incident that happened at the court between its staff and those of Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) and pledged to investigate it.
“Though the investigation is ongoing, the preliminary findings are quite shocking considering the ignoble roles played by some public officials.
“As normal with criminal investigations, security agencies re-arrest suspects when there is adequate suspicion of commission of a crime or as may be revealed by an ongoing investigation.
“Emefiele was re-arrested on the basis of this. Even though the re-arrest was gt tainted by the overzealousness of personnel of the service and NCoS, it was nonetheless legally procedural.
“Later, the service applied for an ex parte order at the FCT high court presided by Justice Edward Okpe (and not Justice Mu’azu as erroneously and massively reported in the media) to detain Emefiele for 14 days.