Why Suspended CBN Governor’s Arrest May Be Unconstitutional – Ozekhome

Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, has said while President Bola Tinubu has the constitutional powers to suspend the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, his arrest by any of the security agencies requires leave of court to be effected and be in line with relevant laws.

Press reported a statement by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Friday, saying President Bola Tinubu suspended Emefiele from office with immediate effect pending the conclusion of investigation of his office and the financial reforms.

Hours after the development, Emefiele was apprehended by the Department of State Services and has since been in custody for investigative purposes.

Reacting to the development, Ozekhome, in a message to press on Saturday, said the president has overall superintendency over the CBN in terms of its governance, coinage and minting of new currency and all these require his consent.

He stated that in terms of suspension, the president has the legal powers to do so, adding “but he (Tinubu) has no power to order the arrest of Emefiele or any Nigerian citizen just like that.”

Recall that Ozekhome had last year withdrawn a suit which sought the interpretation of the Federal High Court Abuja as to whether his client, Emefiele, could run for the 2023 presidential primary in the All Progressives Congress while retaining his office as governor of CBN.

The senior lawyer was of the view that arresting anybody is only legal and constitutional when there is a court order or warrant to that effect.

“Such arrest must conform with the laws of the land.

“For instance, there must be an arrest warrant issued directly by a competent court of law.

“The president cannot simply because he is president whimsically, arbitrarily, capriciously order Emefiele’s arrest and detention.

“Such will be illegal, unconstitutional, wrongful, unlawful, null, void and of no effect whatsoever,” Ozekhome stated.

While the suspended governor is now in the DSS, the state service had instituted a suit against him late last year before Justice John Tsoho.

The application had sought an order to detain Emefiele for interrogation over alleged terrorism financing and national security threat.

But Justice John Tsoho had declined to grant the reliefs sought by the DSS.

The court also ruled that the DSS “can as well arrest and detain the Applicant (Emefiele), even without the Order of this Court.”

The CJ’s ruling on the DSS’ exparte application are as follows:

“Upon perusal of the documents that constitute the Applicant’s Motion Ex Parte dated and filed on 7/12/2022, I am constrained to make the following vital observations:

“The entire affidavit depositions, especially as per paragraph 4 of the supporting affidavit, purport that preliminary investigation has revealed various acts of Terrorism Financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by the Respondent and his Involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension. These are no doubt, grave allegations, but which the Applicant has not presented any concrete evidence to support. The Applicant should have taken the Court into confidence, while seeking the exercise of its discretion in favour of granting Its application. It is my respectful opinion that the ipse dixit of the Applicant standing on its own, is not sufficient evidence upon which to deprive a person of his liberty.

“The Respondent in this application is named as “Godwin Emefiele” without disclosure of his status or position anywhere; not even in the affidavit. It is left to speculation if the “Godwin Emefiele” is the same person as the serving Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. If it is, then he is unarguably a high ranking Public Official In Nigeria and indeed occupies a sensitive position as one of the key drivers of the Nation’s Economy. Therefore, an application of this kind should have evidence of the approval of the Respondent’s boss, that such measures are authorised to be taken. I however do not find such evidence in this instant application, whereas it is a necessary procedure in the observance of the Rule of Law.

“It is noted that it has been the practice of the Applicant to seek detention of a Respondent or further detention, for a definite period of time, when such Respondent is already arrested and is in their custody and that fact is clearly disclosed in the supporting affidavit. This is not the situation here, as Godwin Emefiele, the CBN Governor was shown on Television, even last night, having audience with the President of Nigeria. It therefore seems that the Applicant Intends to use the Court, as a cover for an irregular procedure, which is unacceptable.

“In the light of the foregoing reasons, I decline to grant this application Ex parte. If the Applicant believes that the evidence available to it so far is sufficient, then it can as well arrest and detain the Applicant, even without the Order of this Court. If however the Applicant desires to still pursue this application, then It should place the Respondent on Notice, considering the sensitive Public Office that he occupies.”