On Monday, John Tosho, the chief justice of the Federal High Court in Abuja, reportedly rejected a request from the Department of State Services (DSS) to detain Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, on charges of financing terrorism.
A coalition of Civil Society Organizations (CSO) and the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) had earlier convened to oppose the purported scheme to arrest Governor Emefiele at a press conference in Abuja on Monday.
Tochukwu Ohazurike, coordinator of the CUPP, informed journalists that the Chief Judge had rejected the DSS’s request to arrest Emefiele because he found it to be improper. Ohazurike also led other CSOs in the protest against the purported witch-hunt of the CBN chairman.
In order to obtain a court order keeping Emefiele out of circulation, Ohazurike revealed that a lawsuit had been filed at the Federal High Court with case number FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022.
The secret police, however, was unable to complete its task since the court rejected its application.
According to Ohazurike, who cited the Chief Judge’s decision regarding the application, “It is noted that it has been the practice of the applicant to seek the detention of a respondent from under detention for a specific amount of time when such a respondent is already arrested and in their custody and that fact is clearly disclosed in the supporting affidavit. This is not the case at hand.
Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, was seen on television yesterday night meeting with the president of Nigeria. Accordingly, it appears that the petitioner seeks to exploit this order for an illegitimate procedure, which is unacceptable, the judge said in denying the request to have Emefiele arrested.
According to CUPP, some of the nation’s top politicians were behind a scheme to accuse Emefiele of supporting terrorism, detain him, and keep him out of the country for 60 days in order to force him to retract the newly announced cash withdrawal policy by the apex bank.
Ohazurike expressed further regret, claiming that the plot was intended to thwart the implementation of the naira redesign policy, which would have happened on December 7 immediately following the court order but for the fact that Emefiele traveled to the United States with President Muhammadu Buhari.
CUPP said that DSS agents had encircled the press conference location and named the National Assembly’s presiding officer and a presidential candidate of a significant political party as being involved in the plan against Emefiele.
It is surprising, said Ohazurike, that the director general of the DSS would accuse a man of supporting terrorism while still allowing him to travel with the president.
