Court dismisses DSS suit to keep Emefiele in detention

Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by the Department of State Services (DSS) seeking a 14-day extended detention order for Godwin Emefiele, suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor.

The application was discreetly filed by the DSS’s legal team on Wednesday and came before the vacation judge on Thursday according to a report by Channels Television.

The report noted that the DSS based its application on purported new evidence it had discovered, and that Justice Muazu dismissed the application, citing it as an abuse of court process and identifying the lack of jurisdiction.

Upon questioning by the judge about the court’s jurisdiction, given the exclusive rights of the Magistrate Court to grant detention orders under Sections 293 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, the DSS’s counsel, Victor Ejelonu, opted to withdraw the matter.

The application came in the wake of Emefiele’s re-arrest by the DSS from the Federal High Court premises in Lagos, following his remand in a Correctional Centre while awaiting the fulfilment of his bail conditions granted by Justice Nicholas Oweibo.

DSS rearrested Emefiele on Tuesday, following a fight with the officials of the Correction Centre over who will be in custody of the suspended CBN governor.

The Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi on Tuesday after hearing the plaintiff and the defendant, granted Emefiele bail to the tune of N20 million and ordered that he be allowed to remain in the correction center pending when the bail conditions are fulfilled.

After the court ruling, Joseph Daudu, SAN, counsel to Emefiele, raised an alarm that the DSS was bent on re-arresting his client despite the bail granted him by the court.