By Ayo Yusuf
About 60 constitutional and human right lawyers on Monday at the Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court Abuja commenced contempt proceedings against the Director General of the Department of State Services, DSS, Mr. Yusuf Bichi, over his alleged disobedience of multiple court orders directing the release of the suspended Central Bank Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, from custody.
The lawyers led by barristers Maxwell Opara and Abdulazeez Ahmed Tijani are seeking the commitment of Mr. Bichi to prison until he purges himself of the charge of contempt, in line with the provisions of the law on violations of lawful order of a competent court.
In their motion filed before the court for the issuance of forms 48 and 49 which are necessary in committing a defaulter to prison, the lawyers said following the judgments and orders of Justice M. A. Hassan, Justice Hamza Muazu and Justice Bello Kawu, the DG of DSS ought to have released Mr. Emefiele from detention.
In the affidavit in support of the application, the lawyers deposed to the fact that Justice M. A. Hassan restrained the respondents in that suit, particularly, the State Security Service, from arresting, detaining, or interrogating Mr. Emefiele for offenses connected to terrorism financing, money laundering, round tripping, and financial crimes of national security dimension among others.
They asserted that despite the clear orders of Justice Hassan, the DSS still went ahead to arrest and detain Mr. Emefiele and has detained him for well over a month now while shopping for evidence.
While addressing newsmen after filing their processes at the Registry of the Court, Mr. Maxwell Opara said the group will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion and ensure that Mr. Bichi is sent to prison so as to serve as a deterrent to other heads of security agencies and top government officials who continue to use their offices to abuse court processes for personal vendetta.
Mr. Opara also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to immediately relieve Mr. Bichi of his appointment as DG SSS for having allegedly misled the President that Mr. Emefiele committed heinous crimes against the State only for him to now file a charge of unlawful possession of firearms.
“Is it not clear enough to Nigerians that the DSS is persecuting Emefiele if after holding him for 5 weeks they can only file a ridiculous charge of possessing a pump action gun?” Mr. Opara asked.
“If possessing a validly registered pump action gun is a crime worthy of being held in perpetuity, what has the DSS done to the person threatening Nigerians from a particular section of the country with an assault rifle? This clearly shows the travail of Emefiele is more of political reasons than for any other.
“Assuming there was no valid court order, since the DSS had been unable to find any evidence against Emefiele, he was entitled to his release and how much more now that three different courts have ordered his release, the DSS is still holding him in unlawful detention and violating all his rights, hence the reason why we will ensure Yusuf Magaji Bichi ends up being committed to prison”, the lawyer said..
