The recent fight between the operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) on the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos is, to say the least, disgraceful, despicable and condemnable. The DSS, which had held the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in its custody for over six weeks, brought him to court on charges of possession of illegal arm and ammunition. Justice Nicholas Oweibo admitted him to bail in the sum of N20million with one surety in the like sum and ordered that he be kept at the Ikoyi Correctional Centre pending the fulfillment of his bail conditions. But, in a rather bizarre act, the DSS operatives engaged the officials of the NCoS in a brawl over the custody of Emefiele. They manhandled a senior official of the NCoS, tore his uniform and also succeeded in re-arresting Emefiele and taking him away.
This is one shame too many. In a statement, the DSS noted that the incident was unfortunate and did not reflect the professional disposition of the Service. It promised to probe the face-off. “The Service did not and would never encourage the incident under reference. The Service has tremendous respect for the Judiciary as an Arm and Institution of Government and will not go out of its way to undermine it,” DSS Spokesman, Dr. Peter Afunanya, said. He emphasised that the DSS had not broken any law in handling the Emefiele case and that it would not be used “for clout and fame chasing or delusional heroism.”
The DSS should come clean about this matter. What it did was an affront to the independence of the judiciary. At all times, the court premises should be respected. But with what happened last week, the sanctity of the court was violated. There are clear demarcations between the functions of one government agency and the other. The functions of the DSS and the NCoS are quite different. In this instant case, the DSS arrested a suspect and kept him in its custody. Later, it brought him to court. Afterwards, the judge expressly ordered that the suspect should be kept in the prison custody. Even if Emefiele should be re-arrested, it doesn’t require this show of shame. It must go through due process.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) condemned the conduct of the two agencies and called on their leadership to take immediate disciplinary action against the officers involved in the fracas. It described the action as a brazen disrespect for the sanctity of the court premises.
The DSS is notorious for this kind of behaviour. In July 2016, its operatives arrested some principal officers of the Zamfara State House of Assembly and detained them in Abuja. The lawmakers had allegedly planned to impeach the then governor of the state, Abdulaziz Yari. In 2018, some masked operatives of the secret service barricaded the National Assembly and blocked the entrance to the complex. They prevented the lawmakers from sitting. This elicited widespread anger and condemnation. The then acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, sacked the then Director-General of the agency, Mr. Lawal Daura. A day after the inauguration of Bola Tinubu as President, the same DSS invaded the premises of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Ikoyi, Lagos, and prevented the operatives of the anti-graft agency from accessing their office. The secret police claimed the premises belonged to it. It took the intervention of President Tinubu to get them out of the place.
These shameful acts give both the DSS and the government a bad image. DSS is a secret police that is supposed to do its job in a discreet manner. But it has continued to dance naked in the market square.
We condemn the disgraceful conduct of the secret police. The two services are federal agencies that should collaborate with each other for the betterment of Nigeria. The Presidency should institute a probe into this action and whoever is found culpable should be sanctioned. Leadership of the agencies should teach their subordinates how professionals like them should conduct themselves at every point in time.
Also, the rights of the former CBN Governor should be respected. The judiciary should be allowed to do its work. We advise the DSS to stick to its functions and allow other agencies to do their work. It has clearly overreached itself and has gone beyond the limits of the law setting it up. The government should step in and call the agency to order.
We cannot continue to condone the shameful conduct of the undercover agents. And this should be the last time we should experience this type of disgrace. The DSS is not above the law and it should be made to understand that. The earlier it stops its inanities, the better for the country.