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The Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to either to charge the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Godwin Emefiele to court or release him.
The DSS had arrested Emefiele at his home in Lagos on 9 June, a Saturday, and flown him to their headquarters in Abuja to face interrogations.
The spy agency has been holding him in custody without charge since then.
Delivering a ruling on Emefiele’s fundamental human rights enforcement suit on Thursday, 34 days since his arrest, the judge, Hamza Muazu, gave the agency the options of either releasing or charging him in court.
He held that the Nigerian constitution is rooted in the rule of law and presupposes that all actions must be done according to the law.
“Detention, no matter how small, can amount to a breach of fundamental rights,” Mr Muazu said.
He noted that since allegations levelled against the suspended CBN governor were ordinarily bailable offences, SSS ought to grant him administrative bail pending his trial.
Th DSS accused Emefiele of terrorism finances and other weighty offences during the dying days of the immediate-past administration of then President Muhammadu Buhari.
The agency made a futile move to obtain a court order for his arrest. The Federal High Court in Abuja, where the request was sought, dismissed DSS’ application for the arrest order on the grounds of improper procedure.
But barely 10 days after President Bola Tinubu assumed office, he ordered the suspension of Mr Emefiele from office on allegations that were not disclosed.
The next day, DSS operatives picked him up in Lagos and flew him to Abuja for interrogation.
But worried that they could not gain access to him in custody, his lawyers and family filed a suit on his behalf.
Mr Muazu, in a ruling on an earlier request, on 16 June, ordered that the lawyers be permitted access to Emefiele in custody.
‘Continued detention not justified’
In a further ruling on Thursday, Mr Muazu held that Mr Emefiele’s continued detention without trial amounted to a gross violation of his fundamental human rights.