Fed Govt drags Emefiele to court over possession of firearm
…FG, DSS receive knocks
By Patience Ikpeme
After being detained for weeks, the federal government has charged former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele of gun possession along with 123 live ammunitions.
Emefiele was charged on two counts of possession of one (1) Single Barrel shot Gun (JOJEFF MAGNUM 8371) without licence and count two for possession of One Hundred and Twenty-Three (123) Rounds of live ammunition (Cartridges) without licence.
The charges were filed at a Federal High Court in Lagos, Lagos state where the alleged crimes were said to have been committed.
The offences were allegedly committed at No.3b Iru Close, Ikoyi, Eti Osa Local Government Lagos “on or about the 15th June, 2023”. Emefiele was arrested on June 10, 2023, the day after he was suspended by President Bola Tinubu.
However, associates of the former CBN governor are insisting that the gun is licensed but expired.
An associate who refused to be named said the DSS was on a vendetta mission against Emefiele. “They picked the gun and the licenses from his house, because the license has expired they are filing a charge to say that the gun was without license
According to him, “they have nothing on the former Governor. Imagine the charge, they arrested him and its the gun you found in his house you are charging him for. So on what grounds did you even arrest him in the first place?”
“That you were tipped off he had a licensed gun (even though they claim it wasn’t licensed but it was). Point is that they need to make it clear these guys are holding an innocent man and are doing anything possible to look for something to put on him”.
Another associate told Economic Issues that he was disappointed at what the federal government was charging Emefiele with.
He said he expected to hear of serious economic or financial infractions but was sad to hear that it was for gun possession.
According to him, “they can do that but that is not the kind of criminal offense they are giving the impression of to Nigerians”.
He stated that “talking about financing terrorism, that is the one that is scary to me but if they have the evidence, they should provide it. Is it not because they have arrested him that they now went to search his house and everywhere?
“If that is what they are charging him for, that should be a bailable offense not the one they will hold him ad infinitum”.
The associate demanded that the federal government should “provide evidence of why they have terrorised him all these while, stressing that ‘Nigerians are waiting’.
“This issue of gun is secondary finding, they discovered the gun so they must tell Nigerians the actual offenses committed which warranted attempting to disgrace him from office and deprive him of his liberty”.
Professor Uche Uwaleke of Nasarawa State University appealed to the federal government “to as much as possible apply the rule of law. “This is the minimum expectation from investors and foreign development partners who monitor events in the country’s financial system”.
Chief Executive Officer of Dairy Hills Limited, Kelvin Emmanuel lamented that “the culture of impunity with which law enforcement and security agencies use the instrumentality of state to administer cases in which there are allegations of breaking the law is worrisome.
According to him, “the rule of law is one of the most important metric foreign investors use as a tool to measure the ease of doing business, and grounds for which to deploy capital into a country. The Government needs to understand that every single thing it does is a signal to international investors on how issues on ‘’fair hearing’’, ‘’fundamental human rights’’, ‘’equality before the law’’ and ‘’independence of the judiciary’’ is situated.
Barr. Jones Akpan, a Human Rights activist in his reaction to the charges of possession of firearms against Emefiele stated that “the DSS cannot be seen to be prevaricating and blowing hot and cold. Are they just waking up to the realization that Emefiele is in possession of firearms just only when the Courts have ordered his release or he be charged to Court? Is it within their statutory powers to charge for illegal possession of firearm?
