The tussle ensued after a Lagos court granted the suspended CBN chief bail and ordered that he should be moved from DSS custody and remanded at a correctional centre.
Operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), on Tuesday, re-arrested suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, after a tussle with officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS).
Emefiele’s re-arrest occurred on the premises of a Federal High Court in Lagos sitting in Ikoyi after Justice Nicholas Oweibo admitted the embattled and suspended apex bank chief to bail in the sum of the N20m.
The judge also ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the correctional center pending the fulfillment of the bail conditions.
Battle For Emefiele’s Custody
Shortly after the ruling, DSS operatives strategically positioned their Hilux Pick Up van used in bring Emefiele to court, in a manner suggesting that they wanted to take him back to their detention centre. This prompted Emefiele’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and other lawyers to raise an alarm about their client’s planned re-arrest by the secret police.
After the court ruling, the suspended CBN governor holed up inside the courtroom with his lawyers.
However, when the prison officials moved to take Emefiele into custody pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions, the secret police challenged them and it led to a fight.
Amid the clash, Emefiele’s lawyers “reluctantly allowed the DSS disobey court order and take custody of their client” to avoid a gun battle.
The prison officials then exited the court in their vehicle and the DSS took charge.