The FCT High Court has declined a request by the Department (DSS) of State Services for an “extended detention order” to keep the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, in its custody for additional 14 days.
The DSS arrested Emefiele on June 10 shortly after his suspension by President Bola Tinubu.
The DSS took him before the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday where he was arraigned on two counts of illegal firearms possession.
He was granted bail by the court, which ordered that he should be remanded at the Ikoyi facility of the Nigeria Correctional Service pending the perfection of the bail terms.
The DSS rearrested him at the court premises instead of allowing him to be taken to the correctional centre.
The suit, marked FCT/HC/M/12105/2023, was a sequel to the rearrest, with the secret police asking the FCT High Court to grant him an order to detain Emefiele further.
In the application, DSS said it had discovered new evidence against the suspended CBN Governor.
However, the court, in a ruling by Justice Hamza Muazu, declined the prayer, describing the suit as an abuse of the court process.
The judge, who said he lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter, noted that the provisions of granting such application lie with the magistrates’ court as stipulated under Sections 293 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.
The DSS’ counsel, Victor Ejelonu, however, withdrew the matter after the judge raised questions on jurisdiction.
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