Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana says the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele has not returned to the country following allegations of terrorism financing levelled against him by the Department of State Services (DSS).
“I can say without any fear of contradiction that Mr Godwin Emefiele is not in Nigeria; he hasn’t returned to the country because he has been declared wanted by the state security services,” Falana said on Channels Television’s Sunday Politics.
The secret police had approached an Abuja court to arrest Emefiele over alleged terrorism financing and economic crimes of national security but Justice Maryam Hassan of the Federal Capital Territory High Court Abuja quashed the move by the DSS.
The judge thereafter barred the DSS from arresting, inviting, or detaining Emefiele declaring the terrorism allegations against the CBN governor by the DSS as vindictive, callous, oppressive, void and of no effect.
However, Falana on Sunday said the DSS does not need a court order to arrest the CBN governor if the Service has concrete evidence against him. He urged the DSS to proceed to arrest Emefiele upon his arrival in Nigeria, noting that the apex bank governor is not one of those constitutionally entitled to immunity in Nigeria.
Falana described as embarrassing the allegations against Emefiele by the DSS, saying this can only happen in a Banana Republic where the governor of the apex bank would be accused of a grave offence of terrorism financing.
