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By Joseph Erunke, ABUJA

MORE reactions have continued to trail  Thursday’s  judgement by FCT High Court, barring the Department of State Service, SSS from arresting, detaining or inviting the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele over charges of alleged terrorism financing and economic crimes.

A member of the governing board of the National Human Rights  Commission,NHRC, Barr. Jideani .C . Jideani, in a statement made available to journalists in Abuja at the weekend, described the judgment as another triumph of rule of law, even as he asked the SSS and other security agencies to obey and respect the decision of the court.

The human rights lawyer in a statement he entitled :” Emefiele,SSS  and the rule of law  ,  the right option”, said the ” dealing timeously with applications for the  enforcement of the fundamental rights of Emefiele was a victory for the rule of law.

  He specifically asked the SSS to obey and respect the recent decision of the FCT High Court which barred the agency and other security agencies from arresting, detaining or inviting Emefiele for questioning over alleged terrorism and other crimes.

Recall that Justice M. A. Hassan of the FCT High Court had in a judgement on the Originating Motion filed by the Incorporated Trustees of Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership to enforce the Fundamental rights of Mr Emefiele against the Attorney General of the Federation, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, the Inspector General of Police, State Security Service and the Central Bank of Nigeria, restrained the SSS from arresting the CBN governor.

But Jideani, in the statement, commended the judiciary for accelerated handling of the matter.

Jideani emphasised that the  ” Chief Justice John Tosho of the Federal High Court and Honourable Justice M.A. Hassan of the High Court of the FCT, deserve commendation for the expeditious manner in the handling of this application. 

According to him ” this is what human  rights activists and indeed the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA has been clamouring for.”

” One prays that this should be accorded to all applicants under the FREP Rules irrespective of status or standing in the society.

“Dealing timeously with an application for the enforcement of fundamental rights is a victory for the rule of law. .

“The SSS is a creation of the law and should be subject to the laws of the land. Mr

Godwin Emefiele is not above the law, but he should not be placed below the law ,”he said.

The statement further read:””The Nigerian Constitution is founded on the rule of law the primary meaning of which is that  law. It means also that government should be conducted within the framework of recognized rules and principles which restrict discretionary power …, the rule of iaw means that disputes as to the legality of acts of government are to be decided by judges who are wholly independent of the executive. That is the position in this country where the judiciary has been made independent of the executive by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…

” The judiciary cannot shirk its sacred responsibility to the nation to maintain the rule of law. It is in the interest of the government and all persons in Nigeria. The law should be even-handed between the government and citizens.”

“It’s from the above premise that one observes two rulings by the Judiciary in the vexed matter of the State Security Services and the Mr. Godwin Emefiele — the Governor Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in what has been termed a December to remember by human rights lawyers.

“In the first case the SSS had filed an ex parte application for an order for the arrest of the CBN governor over alleged “acts of financing terrorism, fraudulent activities and economic crimes of national security dimension.”

The SSS had by way of an ex parte application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022, on 7 December 2022, sought the approval of the Court to detain one Mr. Godwin Emefiele for an initial period of 60 days to enable them investigate an allegation of terrorism. This without disclosing the details of the said “one Mr. Godwin Emefiele” or detailing the constituent elements of the alleged terrorism.

“The Court Justice John Tsoho the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, declined the application ruling that the SSS did not provide any concrete evidence to substantiate its claims that Emefiele was involved in terrorism financing and economic crimes. This was concluded by the 9’» of December 2022.

“In the second case, a High Court of the FCT presided over by Honourable Justice M.A. Hassan restrained the SSS from arresting Mr Godwin Emefiele – the Central Bank of Nigeria, over allegations bordering on terrorism at the suit of a civil society group known as the Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership.

“It should be recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja, had earlier refused to grant the SSS an Order to authorize the arrest and detention of Mr Godwin Emefiele for 60 days in the first instance.

“Unlike the application by the SSS which was ex parte and in the absence of Mr Emefiele, the court heard the application of the civil society group Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership — in the presence of all the parties represented by counsel and expeditiously disposed of the matter.

“The above two cases highlight the triumph of the rule of law and the Judiciary should be commended for the expeditious discharge of their functions. It must be noted that urgency and accelerated hearings are fundamental pillars of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009 — which was made pursuant to the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.

“The preamble to the FREP Rules in paragraph 3(g) emphasized that Human Right Cases shall be given priority and accorded accelerated hearing as the liberty of a citizen of Nigeria should be of paramount importance and should be treated as an emergency. In this wise Order IV Rule 1 provides a time limit of 7 days within which to fix an application for hearing and Order IV Rule 3 provided for expeditious hearing of an application.

“Chief Justice John Tosho of the Federal High Court and Honourable Justice M.A. Hassan of the High court of the FCT, deserve commendation for the expeditious manner inthe handling of this application. This is what Human Rights Activists and indeed the NBA has been clamouring for. One prays that this should be accorded to all applicants under the FREP Rules irrespective of status or standing in the society.

“Dealing timeously with an application for the enforcement of fundamental rights is a victory for the rule of law. It must be noted that constitutionally, the concept of the rule of law performs two major roles. It establishes a basis forthe exercise of governmental powers and also circumscribes the exercise of that power so established.

“It has been observed that the rule of law under a written constitution “… is both a supportive and a constraining framework”? and that it imposes both “…substantive and procedural limitations upon the powers of all three organs of government”.

“The most common feature of the rule of law is that the exercise of governmental powers be confined “within a constraining framework of public norms, rather than on the basis of their own preferences, their own ideology, or their own individual sense of right and wrong.

“It is the sacred responsibility of the Courts to enforce the fundamental Rights guaranteed to citizens by the Constitution, and the judiciary cannot shirk its sacred responsibility to the nation to maintain the rule of taw.

“The SSS is a creation of the law and should be subject to the laws of the land, Mr

“Godwin Emefiele is not above the law, but he should not be placed below the law either, His fundamental rights have been protected by the Courts and the SSS should obey and respect the decisions of the court .”