DSS loses bid to keep Emefiele in detention

A Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed an application filed by the Department of State Services, DSS, seeking an order to extend the detention of the embattled Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele.

According to Channels Television, the request was discreetly filed by the DSS’s legal team on Wednesday based on an alleged new evidence it had obtained.

The application was dismissed by Justice Hamza Muazu who cited an abuse of court process and the lack of jurisdiction.

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The request by the DSS followed Emefiele’s re-arrest by the agency from the court premises in Lagos, after the court had ordered his remand in a Correctional Centre while awaiting the fulfilment of his bail conditions.

The DSS’s counsel, Victor Ejelonu, chose to withdraw the matter after the judge raised questions about the court’s jurisdiction, given the exclusive rights of the Magistrate Court to grant detention orders under sections 293 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.