The Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, on Wednesday, berated the Department of State Services, DSS, and officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCoS, for engaging in a free-for-all within the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos, following the arraignment of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
It will be recalled that operatives of the DSS had in a bid to retain the embattled ex-governor of the apex bank in their custody, manhandled a senior prison officia
Trial Justice Nicolas Oweibo had after Emefiele pleaded not guilty to a two-count charge of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition that the Federal Government preferred against him, granted him bail to the tune of N20million with one surety in the like sum.
The court, thereafter, ordered that the defendant should be remanded in prison custody, pending the perfection of his bail conditions.
However, shortly after the court proceedings ended, attempt by prison officials to take Emefiele in custody as ordered by the trial judge, was resisted by armed operatives of the DSS.
In the scuffle that ensued, a senior prison official was violently manhandled by hooded DSS operatives that tore his uniform in the process.
Reacting to the development, the NBA, which is the umbrella body of legal practitioners in the country, decried the incident as a “despicable altercation”.
The NBA further condemned what it termed as “the brazen disrespect for the judicial process and sanctity of the court premises.”
The legal association, in a statement that was signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Habeeb Lawal, “particularly denounced the DSS for its peculiar part in the disgraceful and unlawful conduct, considering the fact that the Court had earlier ordered that the suspended CBN Government be kept in a Correctional Centre pending the perfection of his bail conditions.”
According to the NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau, OON, SAN, “the courts and judicial processes remain the barometer by which the conduct of persons or agencies of government are gauged in assessing the rule of law.”
The NBA President maintained that the incident was a “further evidence of the lack of discipline and absence of professionalism that continues to plague key security institutions in Nigeria, which, without doubt, is largely responsible for the limited progress in achieving a coordinated response to security concerns across the country.”
He said: “A situation where officers of Federal Government agencies engage in a fight as witnessed by the public, for whatever reason, is antithetical to our security as a nation and creates a recipe for anarchy and chaos. Both the DSS and the NCoS are important institutions dealing with national security and administration of justice respectively, and the need for them to work in concert towards attaining justice in a secured Nigeria cannot be overemphasised.”
“While it is difficult not to hold the leadership of the two federal government agencies directly responsible for the shameful and disgraceful conduct of the personnel, the NBA President has particularly called on the two agencies to take immediate disciplinary measures against the officers involved in this disgraceful conduct.
“In addition to this disciplinary measure, Mr. Maikyau also advised a complete overhaul of the institutions and a total reorientation of the personnel, to achieve professionalism and ensure synergy in the discharge of their respective constitutional responsibilities.
“The NBA remains committed to the promotion and protection of the principles of the rule of law and due process, within a safe and secured Nigeria,” the statement further read.
