A High Court sitting in Abuja has stopped the Department of State Services (DSS) from arresting the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, over alleged terrorism financing and economic crimes.

The presiding judge, Justice M.A. Hassan, in his judgement on the motion seeking an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents and all officers under their control and from instigating the arrest of Emefiele, barred the DSS from inviting, arresting, detaining, or charging the CBN Governor with any allegation of terrorism or fraudulent act.

Justice Hassan described the attempt to arrest Emefiele as oppressive, baseless, fabricated, and unacceptable.

The judge ruled that any form of an invitation to Emefiele in the exercise of his statutory powers, functions, and duties, and continuous threats by the DSS to surrender his powers to them constitute “a flagrant breach of his rights to personal liberty, dignity of human person, right to policy-making powers, freedom of thought, conscience and religion and movement as respectively provided and enshrined under the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as Amended) and the  African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act and, therefore, unconstitutional and illegal.”

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Apart from the DSS, others restrained by the court order are the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the CBN, who are listed as 1st, 2nd, and 5th defendants.

“That the 4th Respondent acted wrongfully and illegally in instigating the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria against Mr. Godwin Emefiele in respect of the exercise of his statutory duty relating to the issuance of monetary policies and directives in the interest of National security and economy.

“It is further ordered that the 4th Respondent, their agents, servants, privies, and all officers under their control and command are hereby restrained from instigating the arrest or arresting, interrogating, and detaining Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Central Bank Governor in respect of any matter or policy decision on the economy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria or for any connected purposes except by an order of a Superior Court.

‘That the 4th respondent, whether by themselves, their officers, agents, servants, privies or acting through any person or persons howsoever are hereby restrained from further harassing, humiliating. embarrassing, threatening to incarcerate or detain Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria over trumped-up allegations of terrorism financing and fraudulent practices, etc as well as threats against the peaceable execution of his statutory powers.

“That the 4th Respondent, whether by themselves, their officers, agents, servants, privies or acting through any person or persons howsoever are hereby restrained from inviting, arresting and/or detaining the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Emefiele in the guise of having committed any offence with respect to allegations of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities, etc or in any other manner whatsoever interfering with his right,” Justice Hassan added.

The Star