We join other well-meaning Nigerians to express our disgust over the maltreatments being meted to the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, by the Department of State Security Services, DSS.

The Service and the Governor went head to head following efforts by the former to arrest and interrogate Emefiele over alleged infractions in the management of stamp duties. Former President Muhammadu Buhari had set up a committee headed by the DSS Director General, Yusuf Bichi, and given a free hand to summon, arrest and detain anyone connected to the alleged infraction. The CBN has long debunked the allegation in a public statement.

The Service also sought Emefiele’s arrest on allegations of undermining the government of Muhammadu Buhari, terrorism sponsorship, money laundering and others.

The Service’s attempts to arrest Emefiele were met with a court injunction forbidding such. The Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Abuja, Justice John Tsoho, had declined to grant the DSS’s wishes to arrest Emefiele on December 9, 2022, on the ground of the application’s irregular procedure. Emefiele was also guarded by military personnel until the end of the Buhari regime on May 29, 2023.

Following the power shift at the Presidency, the DSS arrested Emefiele on June 10, 2023, shortly after the President Bola Tinubu government announced his suspension. He has been in their custody since then, contrary to the requirement of the law to charge a suspect within 48 hours of arrest.

On Thursday, July 13, 2023, an Abuja High Court Judge, Hamza Muazu, ordered the DSS to charge Emefiele to court within seven days or free him. Surprisingly, the DSS Spokesman, Dr Peter Afunanya, who confirmed that Emefiele was being held “for a criminal investigation” claimed that the embattled Governor had already been charged to court “on the strength of suspected criminal infractions”.

We do not believe it is right for a citizen to be held and for such a prolonged period by any law enforcement agency on mere “suspicion” of involvement in crime. Prima facie evidence must first be established through thorough investigation. Based on that, a citizen can be arrested and charged in court within 48 hours. Anything more than that is impunity. It leaves room for questions as to the real motive for the detention.

Secondly, how could Emefiele have been charged without the media and public getting to know about it? Was Emefiele arraigned? And did the said court authorise his continued detention? Is he being secretly tried? If so, why?

We stand by Justice Hamza’s order for Emefiele to be released or charged in open court. Otherwise, the DSS could be accused of extracting a pound of flesh for Emefiele’s implementation of Buhari’s Naira policy which the ruling party and its presidential candidate then, Bola Tinubu, were openly against.

Let the law, not vendetta, be followed.