December 07, (THEWILL) – Security agencies in Nigeria have denied attempts to forcefully abduct former Central Bank Governor, Godwin Emefiele, from the custody of the Correctional Centre, Kuje, Abuja.
Controller General of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS), Haliru Nababa, denied the allegation on Thursday, when he appeared before the House of Representatives committee on public petitions, following a petition by the Centre for Social Justice, Equity and Transparency alleging that the EFCC and DSS attempted to forcefully remove Emefiele from custody.
THEWILL earlier reported that the House of Representatives had directed its Committee on Public Petitions to investigate an alleged failed attempt by the EFCC to abduct and forcefully remove Emefiele from the Kuje Correctional Centre in Abuja in defiance to a subsisting Court order which granted him bail.
The Committee had, on Tuesday, summoned the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi; Controller General of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS), Haliru Nababa, and the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, to appear before it on Thursday, December 7.
The investigation followed a petition by a civil society organisation (CSO), Centre For Social Justice Equity And Transparency (CESJET).
In the petition dated November 27, 2023, and addressed to the House Deputy Spokesman, Philip Agbese, the CSO said the actions of the security agencies were a direct affront to the rule of law and amounted to disregarding the order of a competent Court of Law.
The organisation lamented that the embattled former CBN governor is now facing persecution and not prosecution, urging the lawmakers to intervene and stop the agencies of the state from abusing the Court process and persecuting the former apex bank chief.
Speaking on Thursday, when he appeared before the Committee, Nababa, who was represented by the Assistant Controller-General in Charge of Operations, Nwakeze Emmanuel, said: “As far as we are concerned, we are not aware of any alleged attempt to forcefully release Dr Emefiele. Emefiele is still in our custody, bubbling.”
Earlier, the Director, Legal and Prosecution Department of EFCC, Sylvanus Tahir (SAN), said it was inappropriate to entertain the petition as it bordered on a subsisting court matter.
“The petition which we pursued borders on a pending court case. There is a subsisting criminal charge against Mr Godwin Emefiele on whose behalf the petitioners have petitioned.
“I am wondering whether it is appropriate given the fact that it borders on a subsisting court matter for this committee to by way of a public hearing delve into the matter more so that Mr. Emefiele is ably represented by very senior lawyers in this matter including Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN) and this petition did not emanate from them and in any event, we believe if the allegations have substance as the petitioners would want this committee to believe it would have been ventilated before the honourable court before which this case is pending because they are alleging a case of contempt
“If it is a case of contempt as it is being alleged, I thought the appropriate forum to ventilate that issue should be before the honourable court other than being it before this committee given the sub judice nature of this case.
“The court made an order admitting him to bail on conditions which, to the best of our knowledge, is yet to fulfil the bail condition.
“The correctional centre can confirm that he (Emefiele) is in their custody ostensibly because of the reason of non-fulfilment of the bail condition,” he said.
Ruling on the petition, Chairman of the Committee, Mike Etaba, dismissed the petition.
“This matter is in court, we can’t forget ahead with this matter because it is subjudice to us. This matter is hereby dismissed from this committee,” he said.
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