Godwin Emefiele the former CBN governor was earlier arrested by the security forces of the State Security Service (SSS) on June 10, 2023 hours after the president suspended him from being the chief executive officer of the Nigerian apex bank. He was kept in the detention facility of the SSS for over a month without access to his lawyers or doctors.
Some few days ago, a high court sitting in Abuja invalidated his arrest and detention and then mandated the SSS to either charge Mr Emefiele to court if they have a solid case against him or they should let him go home instead of keeping him in their detention facility arbitrarily without a court order.
In response to this court ruling, the SSS came up with just two court charges against Emefiele. The two-count charges read
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COUNT ONE
That you Godwin Emefiele Male of No 8 Colorado Street Maitama Abuja on or about the 15h June 2023 at No. 3b iru Close, Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government, Lagos State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court had in your possession one (1) Single Barrel shotGun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without license You thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 4 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of the Federation 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1) (b)(i) of the same Act.
COUNT TWO
That you Godwin Emefiele Male of No 8 Colorado Street Maitama Abuja on or about the 15 June 2023 at No 3b iru Close, Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government, Lagos State within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court had in your possession One Hundred and Twenty-Three (123) Rounds of live ammunition (Cartridges) without a license. You thereby committed an offense contrary to Section 8 of the Firearms Act Cap F28 Laws of the Federation 2004 and punishable under Section 27 (1)(b)(ii) of the same Act.
It is interesting to see that a former CBN governor was arrested and detained for over a month and he was only charged for illegal possession of firearms.
It is noteworthy to mention that prosecution of persons for the offense of illegal possession of firearms falls under the purview and jurisdiction of the Nigerian police force and never the State Security Service, especially when it is just one gun. Therefore, it is the police that has been empowered by law to prosecute Emefiele if he is to be prosecuted for that offense and never the SSS.
I want to believe that the SSS have more games to play other than this, as their way, they are definitely coming up with more charges to amend the charge sheet later on to trump up more charges against Emefiele. I want to also believe that Mr Emefiele’s persecution is purely a political vendetta for the role he played during the election period with the naira redesign policy as it hasn’t been seen that he has committed anything illegal other than the discharge of his statutory duties.
It is another opportunity to also remind Nigerians that the former EFCC boss, Mr Abgulrasheed Bawa who was also arrested by the SSS is still in detention and he is yet to be charged to court for over a month now. Maybe he will as well be charged with illegal possession of firearms.