A renowned Civil Society Organization, Justice Centre has hailed the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho for declining an Exparte application brought before him by the Department of State Service (DSS) seeking an order to arrest and detain Mr Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for at least 60 days.
This was the position the Organization held at its end-of-year press briefing, stating its views on the failed plot by the DSS to allegedly frame the CBN Governor as a terrorist.
Meanwhile, in a ruling delivered at the Federal High Court, the Chief Judge declined the application to grant the order for lack of evidence, absence of authorization of the President for the application to be brought and for being an irregular procedure which was unacceptable to the Court.
The Director of the group, Barr. Kingdom Okere also lauded Justice Tsoho for standing firm in the defence of the rule of law in the face of planned intimidation and harassment of the Court by the secret police stating that “Furthermore, the Department of State Service must have known they did not have any credible evidence against the CBN Governor but for political and pecuniary reasons insisted on turning the rule of law upside-down. Otherwise, what could be the possible reason President Muhammadu Buhari would not have been informed of such grave allegations of Terrorism Financing against the Central Bank Governor when the President was in the country and in the same city of Abuja the same date the suit was filed.”
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The group further went ahead to join the call for the sack of the Director General of the DSS for undermining the President. It said “the Justice Centre finds no other option but to join the mounting call for the immediate sack of the Director General of the DSS, Mr Yusuf Bichi from office to serve as a deterrent for any person in government contemplating undermining the authority of the President. “
Meanwhile, in a swift reaction, the Department of State Services (DSS) has said that it remains focused on its mandate and warned that no amount of protest or intimidation can stop it from carrying out its duties.
The DSS stated this while reacting to a protest by human rights lawyers, and civil society groups over an alleged plot by the DSS to frame up the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over alleged terrorism sponsorship against Nigeria.
But, reacting to the development, the spokesperson of the DSS, Dr Peter Afunanya, said: “the Department of State Services wishes to clarify that one of its roles is the investigation of matters of national security dimension. It has always discharged this responsibility in the overall interest of Nigerian citizens. As such, the Service will continue to disseminate actionable intelligence to the relevant authorities devoid of any sentiment.
