Chrys
About 60 Constitutional and Human Rights lawyers on Monday
at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT commenced a contempt
charge against the Director General of the State Security Service, Yusuf Bichi
over alleged disobedience to multiple judgments and court orders, directing the
release of the suspended Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele from custody of
the agency.
The contempt charge is seeking to commit the DSS Chief to
prison in line with provisions of the law on violation of lawful order of a
competent court.
The lawyers led by Maxwell Opara and Abdulazeez Ahmed Tijani,
prayed the court to commit the DSS DG to prison until he purges himself of the
contempt.
In their motion filed before the Court for the issuance of
form 48 and form 49 which are the forms to commence proceedings to commit a
contemnor to prison, the lawyers said by the judgments and orders of Justice M.
A. Hassan, Justice Hamza Muazu and Justice Bello Kawu, the DG DSS ought to have
released 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 Emefiele for offences connected to Terrorism financing, money
laundering, round tripping, financial crimes of national security dimension
among others.
They asserted that despite the clear and positive orders of
Justice Hassan, the State Security Service still went ahead to arrest and
detain Emefiele and detained him for well over a month while shopping for
evidence.
While addressing newsmen after filing their processes at the
Registry of the Court, Maxwell Opara said the group will pursue the matter to
its logical conclusion and ensure that Bichi is sent to prison to serve as a
deterrent to other heads of security agencies and top government officials that
contempt of court and gross abuse of offices for personal vendetta will no
longer be tolerated.
Opara also called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to
immediately relieve Bichi of his appointment as DG SSS for having allegedly
misled the President that Emefiele had 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 SSS is
persecuting Emefiele if after holding him for 5 weeks they can only file a
ridiculous charge of possessing a pump action gun? Opara asked.
“If possessing a validly registered pump action gun is a
crime worthy of being held in perpetuity, what has the SSS 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 for 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 SSS 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.
