Continuous detention of Emefiele, Aminu and wife by DSS a mockery of the rule of law – Group

From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

A group, Arewa Civil Society Organisations on Monday described the continuous detention of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele, Sarkin Hausawan Lagos Alh. Aminu Yaro and his wife, Saadatu Yaro by the Department of State Police as a big mockery of the Nigerian judiciary system and rule of law.

The group said ignoring courts orders by the secret Police is tantamount to projecting the Country in a bad light both at home and in the international community.

Chairman of the Group, Adamu Aminu Musa lamented the development saying with flagrant disregard to the rule of law, “how can the international community take us any serious when domestically, we don’t treat judicial matters and ourselves seriously”

He continued, “just recently, during the Senate’s screening of one of the ministerial nominees, the scenario for disobeying court orders and discrediting the constitution was brought to the floor of the Red Chamber which simplified the gravity of the matter.

“At this juncture, while we commend Senator Aliero’s comment that disobeying court orders and disrespecting the rule of law will not be tolerated, it is also paramount to bring to the notice of the President of the Senate that Senator Abaribe did not Pre-empt the Government but was bringing to the floor of the Senate the so much disobedience and discretion of constitution as exhibited by the DSS so it’s re-occurrence can be avoided.

“The President of the Senate as a legislator is in a better position to understand more how crucial it is for three arms of Government to work closely together, hence the need for the President of the Senate to appropriately guide President Bola Tinubu on the necessary steps to take.

“The Government should be courageous, fair, and sincere enough to task heads of government agencies to do the right thing by ordering the DSS to respect court orders

“We are therefore calling on the DSS to act with honesty in their mode of operations and stop frustrating the court, judiciary, and innocent Nigerians.

“They should remember that national interest supersedes personal interest and with their continuous detention of Emefiele, Aminu Yaro Sarki, and his wife, not only are they prioritising personal interests over the nation’s, they are also subjecting our judiciary and nation to a big mockery and portraying a bad image of the nation”, he said.

“The earlier we address this assault and disrespect on the court and rule of law, the better for us because it is attracting unneeded attention everywhere.