All -Out- Brawl, As DSS Officers Fight Prison Officials  Over  Emefiele’s Bail

Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and Nigeria Correctional Centre (NCC) on Tuesday were locked in a battle  over the custody of Godwin Emefiele, suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

A federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos, had granted Emefiele N20 million bail and one surety in like sum.

Emefiele is facing charges bordering on “illegal possession of firearms”.

Nicholas Oweibo, the presiding judge, ruled that the embattled apex bank chief be remanded at the correctional centre, pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions.

However, DSS operatives insisted on taking Emefiele into their custody.

Heated arguments and an all-out brawl between personnel of both services ensued on the premises of the court.

On June 9, President Bola Tinubu suspended Emefiele and asked him to transfer his responsibilities to Folashodun Adebisi Shonubi, deputy governor, operations directorate.

The day after, the DSS announced that Emefiele was in its custody for “some investigative reasons”.

On July 13, a federal capital territory high court ordered the DSS to charge Emefiele to court if they have a foolproof case against him.

However, following his arraignment on  Tuesday, the court had granted bail to Emefiele in the sum of N20 million after pleading not guilty to the two-count charge bordering on alleged illegal possession of firearms.

In a ruling, Nicholas Oweibo, the presiding judge, said the charges against Emefiele are bailable.

The bail was granted with one surety in like sum.

The court said that the surety must have landed property within the court jurisdiction and must be deposed to an affidavit of means.

“The surety must be the owner of landed property within the jurisdiction of the court, who must not be less than level 16 in the Nigerian civil service,” the judge said.

“The defendant must deposit his international passport with the court.

The judge remanded the defendant in prison custody pending the perfection of his bail as against the request of the prosecution that Mr Emefiele should be remanded in DSS custody for further investigation

 Emefiele, through this lawyer, Joseph Daudu, had moved his bail application before the judge.

The federal government had accused Emefiele of having in his possession, 123 rounds of live ammunition (cartridges) without a licence.

The SSS arrested Mr Emefiele at his home in Lagos on 10 June and immediately flew him to Abuja to face interrogation.

He was brought to the federal court on Tuesday at 9:21 a.m. by officers of the State Security Service (SSS).

An hour after the bail pronouncement, over 15 operatives of the SSS had remained at the courtroom entrance.

 The court adjourned the case to 14 November for trial.