Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), on Tuesday, re-arrested suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, after a tussle with officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS).
According to reports, the secret police took custody of Emefiele after a physical fight with officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service.
Emefiele’s re-arrest occurred after Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos admitted the embattled and suspended apex bank chief to bail in the sum of the N20m.
Clash between DSS and Prison officials
There was drama at the Federal High Court in Lagos as operatives of the DSS and officials of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCS) engaged in physical confrontation at the court premises over who should take custody of Emefiele.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo had in his ruling ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the correctional center pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.
Shortly after the ruling, DSS operatives strategically positioned their Hilux Pick Up van used in bring Emefiele to court, with some of them seen in strategic locations and close to the court entrance, in a manner suggesting that they wanted to take him back to their detention centre.
This prompted Emefiele’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and other lawyers to raise an alarm about their client’s planned re-arrest by the secret police.
After the court ruling, the suspended CBN governor holed up inside the courtroom with his lawyers.
However, when a senior officer of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) attempted to take the defendant into custody in line with the court’s directive which ordered his remand pending perfection of bail, the DSS resisted the move, leading to a fight.
After a faceoff between men of the DSS and NCoS, the defendant was eventually intercepted by the DSS when he stepped out of the court room and taken away in a police vehicle at about 3:15 pm.
Prison Officials Vacate Court Premises
Amid the clash, Emefiele’s lawyers “reluctantly allowed the DSS to disobey the court order and take custody of their client” to avoid a gun battle.
The prison officials then exited the court in their vehicle and the DSS took charge.
