The continued detention of the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele by the Department of State Services (DSS) suffered a setback today as an application to hold him for another 14 days by the State Security Service (SSS) before a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court sitting in Maitama was struck out.
The DSS application followed the re-arrest of Emefiele from the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos by the intelligence agency after he was remanded in the custody of the Correctional Centre pending the perfection of his bail by Justice Nicholas Oweibo, reports The Nation.
Emefiele, who has been in the custody of the DSS jfor more than six weeks, was ordered to be released or charged to court within a week by the court a fortnight ago.
He was later granted bail by the a Federal High Court in Lagos but has been battling with his release since then.
When the application marked FCT/HC/M/12105/2023 and filed on Wednesday by the agency came up before the vacation judge today, the DSS told the court that a fresh evidence have been uncovered that makes the request for the order very imperative.
However, event a took a different turn when the judge questioned the Counsel to the DSS, Victor Ejelonu, on the court’s jurisdiction in view of the provisions of Sections 293 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act which vests exclusive rights on the Magistrate Court to grant detention order.
With the observation of the presiding judge, the Counsel to DSS applied and withdrew the matter.
The presiding judge, Justice Hamza Muazu, nevertheless struck out the application for being an abuse of the court process and for lack of jurisdiction.
