The African Center for Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR) says that if the Department of State Services (DSS) detains Godwin Emefiele, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), they will say bad things about President Muhammadu Buhari and the justice system.
Recently, it came out that the DSS had asked the federal high court in Abuja for an arrest warrant for Emefiele on the grounds that he was funding terrorism and economic crimes.
The top court, J.T. Tsoho, still turned down the application, saying that the secret police had not shown any hard evidence to back up their claims.
Due to the changes to the naira and the limit on cash withdrawals, some people think that the attempt to detain Emefiele may have been made for political reasons.
The civil society organization’s (CSO) spokesperson, Abubakar Isa, said in a statement on Monday that it would be “reckless” for the secret police to arrest the CBN governor in defiance of a court order.
“All departments of government should obey the order of the court unless such order is set aside by an appeal court,” Isa added. “The court, as the last chance for the citizen, has made a decision about Godwin Emefiele’s legal rights and responsibilities.”
As the third part of the government, the court is required by the constitution to keep repression and intimidation from happening.Even though the country has a long history of democracy, the political establishment doesn’t seem to care much about this important idea.
“In a dangerous act, the DSS is prepared to defy a legitimate court order, violating a key tenet of democratic governance and civil society.”
The idea and practice of power separation are important characteristics of democratic governance. If the DSS pursues Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele despite a court ruling prohibiting them from doing so due to allegedly false allegations of financing terrorism, they will be bringing President Muhammadu Buhari and the judiciary into disrepute.
