- Suspended CBN governor asks court to grant him bail
Some lawyers, who, on Monday, initiated contempt proceedings against the Director General of the Department of State Services (DSS), Yusuf Bichi, following the continued detention of suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele, have raised the alarm over alleged threats to their lives.
Speaking yesterday on the premises of the Federal High Court in Abuja, the lawyers claimed that the DSS was threatening to link them with terrorism activities by allegedly referring to them as lawyers to the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and Eastern Security Network (ESN).
One of them, Tijani Ahmed, referred a viral tweet on the DSS’ official tweeter handle in reaction to the case they filed and insisted that the organisation was planning to tag them with alleged terrorism-related activities.
Ahmed said: “Around 6 a.m, when we met this morning, the tweet was still there on the handle of the DSS. This was about 17 hours after it had been posted and had really gone.
“At that time, it had been seen by about 2 million people, globally, generated over 3,600 comments, re-tweeted almost 5,000 times and liked more than 2,500 times.
“The tweets, which have been greeted by national outrage and condemnation, is still on the handle of the security agency.
“In the same vein, the tweet by the DSS has also exposed it, very clearly to the world, that the persecution Mr. Godwin Emefiele suffers today is largely due to the ethnic profiling, as directed by the DG DSS.
“The fact that Mr. Emefiele is Igbo and attained the height of CBN governor to Mr. Bichi is an abomination, hence his resolve to see that Emefiele is pulled down because to him, all Igbo are IPOB/ESN terrorists.”
Ahmed alleged that it was obvious that the DSS boss had declared war on lawyers and Igbo people, claiming that the persecution being suffered by Emefiele is largely due to ethnic and political reasons.
Also, Emefiele has asked a Federal High Court in Lagos to grant him bail.
The suspended CBN governor is seeking a bail on self-recognisance pending the determination of the charge filed against him by the Federal Government.
On July 13, spokesperson of the Department of State Services (DSS), Dr. Peter Afunanya, confirmed that the agency had filed charges against Emefiele.
The secret police charged the suspended CBN governor with two counts bordering on alleged possession of firearms.
Although the case has been assigned to Nicholas Oweibo, a judge, Emefiele is yet to be arraigned.
His bail application, which is premised on nine grounds, was filed by a team of 10 lawyers, led by Joseph Daudu.
Emefiele argued that the charges for which he was accused are bailable.
The suspended CBN governor said he had never been convicted of a crime and should enjoy the presumption of innocent until proven guilty, adding that he is not a flight risk.
He also said granting him bail would give him time to prepare his defence.
Emefiele argued that since investigations had been concluded, there was no likelihood of interference on his part.
The defendant pledged to show up for trial on time and expressed his willingness to offer responsible sureties required by the court.
On June 9, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended Emefiele and asked him to transfer his responsibilities to Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, the apex bank’s Deputy Governor in charge of Operations Directorate.
The day after, the DSS announced that Emefiele was in its custody for “some investigative reasons”.
The suspended CBN governor has been in DSS custody since June.