DSS snatches Emefiele from NCS, re-arrests suspended CBN governor

The Department of State Services and the Nigeria Correctional Services engaged in fracas on Tuesday on the premises of a Federal High Court in Lagos sitting in Ikoyi.

The tussle ensued after the court granted suspended Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele bail and ordered that he should be moved from DSS custody and remanded at a correctional centre.

DSS officials, however, decided to rearrest Emefiele after Justice Nicholas Oweibo admitted the embattled and suspended apex bank chief to bail in the sum of the N20m.

The judge had also ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the correctional centre pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions.

DSS operatives had strategically positioned their Hilux Pick Up van used in bring Emefiele to court, in a manner suggesting that they wanted to take him back to their detention centre. This prompted Emefiele’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu (SAN), and other lawyers to raise the alarm about their client’s planned re-arrest by the secret police.

After the court ruling, the suspended CBN governor holed up inside the courtroom with his lawyers.

However, when the prison officials moved to take Emefiele into custody pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions, the secret police challenged them and it led to a fight.

Amid the clash, Emefiele’s lawyers “reluctantly allowed the DSS disobey court order and take custody of their client” to avoid a gun battle.

The prison officials then exited the court in their vehicle and the DSS took charge.