Court declares Emefiele’s arrest invalid, orders release

In a fresh ruling, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court nullified the arrest and detention of suspended Central Bank governor Godwin Emefiele, despite his arraignment.

The ruling delivered on Friday by Justice Bello Kawu held that the arrest, detention, and interrogation of Mr Emefiele violated a 2022 ruling of Justice M. A. Hassan in the suit marked FCT/HC/GAR/CV/41/2022.

The 2022 ruling was delivered in the run-up to the general election when the SSS sought to arrest Mr Emefiele. It described attempts by the SSS to arrest Mr Emefiele as “vindictive, unwarranted, abrasive, oppressive and the same constitutes a flagrant breach of his rights to personal liberty, the dignity of the human person,” and went on to prohibit his arrest.

The SSS, in a statement on Thursday evening, admitted that it ignored the ruling to arraign Mr Emefiele on suspicion of new offences, which was not addressed by the 2022 ruling.

In Friday’s ruling, Mr Emefiele, through his counsel, Peter Abang, urged the court to uphold the December 2022 order to nullify his arrest and detention.

The motion was filed against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Incorporated Trustees of the Forum for Accountability and Good Leadership, the Economic Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Inspector-General of Police, the State Security Service (SSS), and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Mr Kawu agreed with Mr Emefiele’s counsel that his arrest, detention, and interrogation violated a court order and were illegal.

The court also set aside and voided any warrant of arrest obtained or procured by the SSS for the arrest and interrogation of Mr Emefiele and ruled that he should be released.

Last month, President Bola Tinubu suspended Mr Emefiele as the apex bank’s governor, citing ongoing investigations of his office.