A group of human rights lawyers yesterday initiated contempt action against the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Mr. Yusuf Bichi due to their dissatisfaction with the arrest and prolonged detention of the suspended governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele
The legal practitioners, led by Mr. Maxwell Opara and Ahmed Tijani, in an affidavit they attached to the applications, accused the DSS boss of disobeying subsisting court judgements regarding Emefiele’s arrest and detention.
Specifically, they claimed that the security agency and its DSS, acted in breach of a judgement of the court delivered by Justice M. A. Hassan, which they claimed restrained the Respondents from arresting, detaining or interrogating the embattled CBN governor, for offences connected to terrorism financing, money laundering, round tripping and financial crimes of national security dimension.
Speaking with newsmen shortly after the applications were filed in court on Monday, leader of the group, Mr. Opara, equally accused the Respondents of disobeying judgements delivered by Justice Hamza Muazu and Justice Bello Kawu of the high court, which he said, also stopped Emefiele’s arrest.
He said the group would pursue the matter to its logical conclusion with a view to ensuring that public offices were not used for personal vendetta.
Meanwhile the DSS today suggested that the embattled CBN Governor has a connection with the separatist Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
The former CBN governor last week was charged with illegal possession of firearms by the Nigerian government after a court nullified his detention by the DSS.
While his arrest and detention are being contested in court, the DSS on Tuesday claimed that Emefiele being represented by the same lawyer as IPOB indicates a connection with the proscribed separatist group.
One of Emefiele’s lawyers, according to the DSS, Maxwell Okpara, is also the legal representative of IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu who is facing treason and terrorism charges against the Nigerian government.
