Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), is due to appear before the Lagos Division of the Federal High Court on July 25.
Following allegations brought against him by the security agency, the embattled CBN chairman will lodge his plea before Justice Nicholas Oweibo.
On June 10, DSS agents invaded Emefiele’s Ikoyi apartment in Lagos, a day after President Bola Tinubu removed him as CBN governor.
Following that, he was detained and has remained in custody, with the DSS claiming that his incarceration was based on an order of an Abuja Chief Magistrate Court.
However, a group of human rights attorneys led by Mr Maxwell Okpara and Ahmed Tijani has condemned Emefiele’s continuing arrest, accusing the DSS of breaking previous court orders.
To protest the protracted confinement, the legal practitioners filed a contempt case against the Director General of the Department of State Services, Mr Yusuf Bichi.
Following a tweet on the official DSS Twitter handle in which they were referred to as “charge and bail lawyers” and sympathisers of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), the human rights group is also demanding for Bichi’s removal.
Meanwhile, the DSS has filed a two-count charge against Emefiele in the Federal High Court, accusing him of illegally possessing a single-barrel shotgun (Jojeff Magnum 8371) without a licence, which is an offence under Section 4 of the Firearms Laws of the Federation 2004, and punishable under Section 27 (1) (b) (i) of the same act.
He also faces allegations of illegally possessing 123 rounds of live ammunition (cartridges).
As the judicial processes progress, all eyes will be on the approaching trial to ascertain the conclusion and consequences for Emefiele’s future, as well as the case’s impact on the nation’s financial and political environment.
