Tunde Oyesina 
A group of lawyers under the platform of Lawyers in Defence of Democracy (LDD) on Thursday condemned what they described as endless use of fabricated charges by the Director General of the Department of State Service (DSS) to continue to hold the suspended Governor of CBN, Godwin Emefiele in detention.
They described the new charge of breach of contract procurement law as an afterthought and called on President Bola Tinubu to immediately sack the DSS Director General, Yusuf Magaji Bichi for dragging the agency into a matter outside its jurisdiction and competence to handle.
According to them, “Mallam Bichi should be sacked now for pioneering the affairs of the organization in a manner that appears it has lost focus of its statutory mandate”.
The lawyer’s position was informed by the involvement of the DSS in the arrest and subsequent charges preferred against Emefiele.
While describing the fresh 20-count charge against Emefiele as forum shopping and politically motivated, the lawyers wondered why the DSS should abandon their statutory mandate of internal security to issues bordering on the procurement of vehicles.
Spokesperson of the group, Ahmed Yusuf Tijani who spoke to journalists after the aborted arraignment of the former CBN governor equally called on President Tinubu to review the modus operandi of the DSS.
“We are here to witness the arraignment of the suspended CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele. You will recall that on July 25, 2023, we were in Lagos at Ikoyi Federal High Court, where the DSS arraigned the former CBN governor on a two-count charge bordering on the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
” We condemned that arraignment and fortunately, the Court granted bail to Emefiele and you saw the show of shame that took place in court on that very day. We condemned both the arraignment and the charges and we told you that the gun in question was a Dane gun.
“I think they have gone back and looked at the charge they preferred against him and they realized that they have goofed. Today, they wanted to arraign him on a 20-count bordering on procurement.
” It appears to us that the DSS has lost focus of its constitutional and statutory mandate. The DSS was established to handle matters that bordered on internal security -terrorism.
“Before now, they told us that Emefiele has cases to answer on matters that have to do with terrorism. We were expecting that the charges will reflect terrorism count charges. Surprisingly, what we saw is matters bordering on procurement. That he gave contracts for the award of Land Cruisers. This is a charade and makes a mockery of the prosecution. We can’t take this. What the DSS is doing is forum shopping.
“This is an organization that appears to us to have outlived its usefulness in this country. We call on President Bola Tinubu to review the modus operandi of the DSS. It appears that they have lost focus and indeed, they have lost focus”.
The group equally called on the newly appointed Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice(AGF), Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) to review the activities of the DSS.
” We watched him speak during his screening at the National Assembly how he articulated his points on the justice sector which include reforms and how he condemned executive recklessness. We believe he can correctly fix the Justice sector of the country, this is the time for him to act, Tijani observed.
“The DSS is no longer the organization that was formed as at the time it was formed. It has derailed and lost focus and we call on well-meaning Nigerians to ensure that the DSS sticks to its mandate or be scrapped. This is our position.”
Another member of the group, Okere Kingdom, in his contribution, narrated how the DSS had in December last year framed Emefiele for financing terrorism and actions that undermined national security.
“It all started in December when the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court, Justice John Tsoho, refused to grant a black market injunction at the request of the DSS. This is purely a political vendetta.
He called on the DSS to live by example by publically publishing its audited account of the procurement of its operational vehicles.
