BRIGANDAGE WITHIN COURT PREMISES  

The clash between factions of the state agencies is shameful

A disgraceful melee ensued on Tuesday at the premises of the Federal High court in Ikoyi, Lagos between officials of the Department of Security Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS). Videos of the manhandling of a NCoS official whose uniform was torn, and the courtroom scuffle have since gone viral. At the centre of the ugly drama is the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele. A former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Ekiti State, Dayo Akinlaja, SAN, has described the incident as both unfortunate and inappropriate. Even if the DSS has other cases against Emefiele, according to Akinlaja, “the civil and legitimate approach would have been for them to formally apply to the court and make a case for their continual custody of him.” Instead, the DSS chose to wilfully disobey the court order after creating a violent scene.  

It all started when Emefiele who has been detained for more than a month was arraigned in court on a two-count charge bordering on possession of a single barrel shot gun, as well as possession of 123 rounds of live ammunition without licence. After pleading not guilty to the charge, Emefiele was subsequently granted bail in the sum of N20 million with one surety in like sum. The court then adjourned the case until 14^th November for trial and ordered Emefiele’s remand in the correctional service pending perfection of his bail. When a senior officer of the NCoS attempted to take Emefiele into custody in line with the court’s directive, he was accosted by DSS operatives. What followed was a free-for-all fight that nearly degenerated into a shooting war between officials of the two agencies before sanity eventually prevailed.   

We condemn in very strong terms the action of the DSS officials who behaved like licensed thugs right inside a court room. We also reject the recourse to primitive fisticuffs over an accused person who ordinarily remains innocent in the eyes of the law until proven guilty after trial. That the DSS would forcefully take Emefiele away in defiance of the court order only portrays the level to which lawlessness has become a defining ethos in the country. It is also a further devaluation of our already debased human rights record. We cannot run a democracy in which security agents believe they can beat, bully, and strip people naked in open court premises under any guise whatsoever. Nor can we justify a situation in which state officials sustained by public tax money are allowed to behave like common motor park touts in a court of law.  

In his first meeting with security chiefs after assuming office, President Bola Tinubu reportedly warned against inter-agency squabbles. “All agencies must work to achieve one single purpose. Working at cross purposes and colliding with each other is not something that I will condone,” the president was credited as telling agency chiefs at the meeting. With what happened in court on Tuesday, the presidential charge is hollow. The recourse to physical scuffle between factions of state enforcers is a disgraceful display of lawlessness that would attract severe sanctions in all civilised societies.  

We call on the federal government to urgently institute an inquiry into this disgraceful episode with a view to disciplining the affected officers. An example needs to be set so that such disgraceful displays never take place again. In recommending strict disciplinary action against officers involved in this shameful act, we must remind the federal government that such public conduct sends very negative signals to the world about our respect for basic human rights and dignity of citizens under the law.