Civil Society Organizations, CSOs, under the umbrella of Patriots Network Nigeria and Citizens Stability Forum on Monday alleged that some powerful Nigerians, who are corrupt and selfish, are shielding the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele from arrest.
The Department of State Services (DSS) had sought a court order to arrest and question Emefiele over allegations of terrorism financing.
However, while the presiding judge declined the ex-parte motion filed, he mentioned that if the DSS believes that the evidence available to it so far is sufficient, then it has the jurisdiction to arrest and detain the applicant, even without the order of the court.
But the group alleged that while the DSS were planning to arrest Emefiele, “he was alerted and hurriedly left the country to avoid arrest, which only indicates his unwillingness to answer and address the accusation surrounding him.”
In a press statement jointly signed by the conveners of the groups, Moses Sheson and Mukhtar Lawal, the group alleged that “powerful people who are known to be selfish and corrupt supporting Emefiele and shielding him away from the investigation?”
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According to them, “it is important that Nigerians ask the following important questions – What is preventing Emefiele from allowing the investigation by DSS?”
The challenged the embattled Emefiele to report himself to DSS if he believes he is not guilty of the allegations against him.
“But it is clear to Nigerians that the CBN governor and cohorts are trying hard to scuttle the investigation, for them it is not a matter of justice or proving innocence but a matter of LEAVE HIM ALONE irrespective of what he has done wrong.”
”It is important for this Buhari led administration to know that while it have made a lot of progress in fighting corruption and insecurity, however, if this case is allowed to be swept under the carpet.”
“It has the tendency of reversing all gains made by this government. It is also very important for citizens of our country to understand that we cannot afford to allow people in power to act and behave recklessly, mismanage our resources, abuse their office, and still get away with it, just because they are being shielded by the power surrounding them. We cannot have a country were only the poor and powerless are subjected to the rule of law whereas those in power and their cohorts are not,” the group said.
Every Nigerian should be grateful to the DSS and its Director General, Bichi due to their efforts in taming the monstrous insecurity facing this nation.
The groups also commended the Director General of DSS, Yusuf Magaji Bichi, for his commendable commitment in moving the service forward.
“Since the coming in of Mr Bichi, the DSS has been nothing but excellent playing its role diligently, gathering security intelligence and fighting so much security threats a lot of which most the public are not even aware of.
“We all know that DSS is saddled with critical functions of prevention and detection of any crime/terrorism against the internal security of Nigeria and provision of timely advice to Government on all matters of National security interest among other.”
“So why will their investigation on the CBN governor be an exception just because of the interest of selfish elements. Nigerians need to understand that if the accusations against Emefiele are true and the DSS are prevented from carrying out their constitutional duty on the matter, the cost of this will be enormous capable bringing this country on its knees, emboldening terrorist sponsors and worse demoralizing our security agencies and personnel.” the group said.
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