‘Illegal possession of firearms’: Emefiele asks court to stop DSS from further prosecution

Godwin Emefiele, suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has asked a federal high court in Lagos to restrain the federal government from further prosecuting him.

The Department of State Services (DSS) is prosecuting Emefiele for “illegal possession of a firearm”.

Emefiele is also seeking an order of the court discharging him of all offences preferred against him.

He said the federal government is in “brazen disobedience” of the subsisting orders of court granting him bail on July 25.

Emefiele wants the court to prohibit the government, through its agencies, from taking him before any other court unless it complies with the bail ruling.

The application was filed by Joseph Daudu, counsel to Emefiele, on Tuesday.

The application seeks to preserve and protect “the efficacy, majesty and integrity of the court as well as the rule of law in a democracy”.

FACE-OFF BETWEEN AGENCIES IN COURT

Emefiele has been in DSS custody since his arrest in June.

On July 25, he was arraigned on a two-count charge bordering on “illegal possession” of firearms at a federal high court in Ikoyi and was granted bail in the sum of N20 million.

Nicholas Oweibo, the judge, had ordered that Emefiele be kept in the custody of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.

But the DSS insisted that Emefiele must return to its custody — a development that led to the face-off between the secret police and prison officials.

After the face-off, DSS rearrested Emefiele on the court premises.

The secret service proceeded to file an application before a high court of the federal capital territory seeking to further detain the suspended CBN governor.

The application was struck out after it was withdrawn by the service over jurisdictional concerns.

On August 3, the federal government also filed an application before the federal high court in Lagos, seeking leave to appeal against the order granting bail to Emefiele.

In the application filed by Nkiru Jones-Nebo, a deputy director of public prosecutions of the federation, the federal government is also seeking a stay of execution of the order remanding Emefiele in the custody of the NCoS.

The federal government wants him remanded in the custody of the DSS instead.

Oweibo, the presiding judge, has fixed Thursday to hear the application.