Court dismisses DSS request to keep Emefiele in detention
A High Court of the Federal Capital Territory sitting at Maitama, on Thursday, rejected a fresh application the Department of State Services, DSS, filed for an order to further detain the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Mr. Godwin Emefiele, for another 14 days.
The court, in a ruling that was delivered by Justice Hamza Muazu, held that the application constituted an abuse of the judicial process, adding that the court had no jurisdiction to entertain it.
The application was discreetly filed by the DSS’s legal team on Wednesday and came before the vacation judge on Thursday.
The report noted that the DSS based its application on purported new evidence it had discovered, and that Justice Muazu dismissed the application, citing it as an abuse of court process and identifying the lack of jurisdiction.
Upon questioning by the judge 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, the DSS’s counsel, Victor Ejelonu, opted to withdraw the matter.
