DSS Rearrests Emefiele After Tussle With Prison Officials

The suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, will not be leaving the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) anytime soon, as he was rearrested on the court premises.

Emefiele was arraigned by the DSS on Tuesday and was granted bail at N20 million by Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos.

The Federal Government’s counsel had spoken against the bail during the hearing of the two-count charge on illegal possession of firearm and ammunition.

However, Justice Oweibo ruled in his favour, approving his bail application and ordering the prison officials to take him into custody.

After the hearing, the DSS confronted the prison officials and an argument ensued over who will detain Emefiele. This led to a physical assault on one of the prison officials.

Following the confrontation, a senior official of the DSS intervened and the prison officials left the prison, after which the DSS took Emefiele back into their custody and left the court.

Prime Business Africa previously reported that Emefiele pleaded not guilty to the allegations brought against him by the DSS.

The firearm and ammunition were reportedly found at his property in Ikoyi, Lagos, after his initial arrest on 9 July over an allegation of financing terrorism.

His initial arrest followed his suspension by President Bola Tinubu, who said he was cleansing the monetary policy by removing Emefiele from his position as CBN governor.

Note that before Tinubu was elected President, he had alleged that some CBN policies under Emefiele were targeted at him, especially the infamous naira redesign implementation.

Tinubu alleged that the policy was aimed at reducing his chances of victory during the Presidential election, which Emefiele had also wanted to contest.

Emefiele had taken the Attorney General of the Federation and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to court to secure approval for his presidential ambition, as he was the first sitting CBN governor to decide to contest in a presidential election.

The suspended CBN governor later dropped the case after former President Muhammadu Buhari directed public officials to resign from their position if interested in elected public offices.