Release Emefiele Now!Lawyers and activists are demanding the immediate release of Emefiele due to an unlawful firearms charge.

  • Post category:Politics

An increased number of lawyers and civil society organizations have strongly criticized the Department of State Services (DSS) for the continued detention and filing of illegal firearms charges against Godwin Emefiele, the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. The DSS pressed charges against Emefiele shortly after a Federal High Court in Abuja declared his arrest and detention a violation of his fundamental rights and ordered his release within two days. Prominent legal professionals expressed their condemnation of Emefiele’s prolonged detention by the DSS, emphasizing that it disregards the court’s orders and calling for his immediate release.

Law professor Sam Erugo, SAN, commented on the charges against Emefiele, stating that they were an afterthought and implied that the DSS lacked justifiable reasons for the initial arrest. According to Erugo, the DSS’s actions undermine the rule of law and violate Emefiele’s fundamental human rights guaranteed under the Nigerian Constitution. Other lawyers, including former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) National Publicity Secretary Kunle Edun, criticized the DSS for charging Emefiele with unlawful possession of firearms, arguing that it was an inappropriate case for the agency to pursue and a waste of taxpayers’ money.

Malachy Ugwummadu, former National President of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), accused the DSS of persecuting Emefiele rather than genuinely prosecuting him. Ugwummadu emphasized that the DSS’s actions constituted a political witch hunt and raised concerns about the administration’s commitment to the rule of law.

In a separate matter, Nigeria’s foreign exchange market has been experiencing a persistent supply gap, resulting in the devaluation of the local currency, the Naira. The Naira recently reached a new low, trading at N803.9 to a dollar in the Investors & Exporters (I&E) window and N822/$ in the parallel market. Market participants expressed disappointment over the lack of expected increases in supply and cited rising demand and hoarding as contributing factors to the Naira’s devaluation. The decline in forex supply and increasing demand have impacted turnover and external reserves, leading analysts to recommend further reforms, including removing forex restrictions, incorporating Bureau De Changes (BDCs) into the forex market, and clearing the forex demand backlog, to address the situation and attract increased forex inflow.

This Post Has 13 Comments

Leave a Reply