Mr. Godwin Emefiele, erstwhile Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has been charged to court, says the Department of State Services (DSS).
This follows the order of a High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday that state security authorities holding Emefiele in custody, should duly charge him to court or release him within seven days.
Shortly following the court order, Mr.Peter Afunaya, Department of State Security spokesman, said Mr.Emefiele had been duly charged to court.
Mr. Afunaya did not however disclose the court to which Emefiele had been charged or the charges filed against him.
“The public may recall that the Service had, in 2022, applied for a Court Order to detain him in respect of a criminal investigation,” Afunanya said in a statement issued Thursday.
“Though he (Emefiele) obtained a restraining order from an FCT High Court, the Service, however, arrested him in June, 2023, on the strength of suspected fresh criminal infractions/information, one of which forms the basis for his current prosecution.”
Earlier on Thursday, Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, Abuja issued a one-week ultimatum to the DSS to either charge Emefiele to court or set him free.
The judge issued the order while delivering ruling in a fundamental human rights suit instituted against the DSS and others by Emefiele.
Justice Muazu stated that the suspended CBN governor can’t remain in detention without a formal charge, and that the DSS can’t use the period of Emefiele’s detention to search for evidence against him.
Emefiele had sued the Attorney General of the Federation and DSS, seeking enforcement of his fundamental human rights to freedom of movement and dignity to human life.
In the suit, Emefiele had asked that his arrest and detention since June 10 without valid order of court be voided and set aside.
He further demanded N5m as compensation for exemplary damages for his alleged unlawful detention.
