NBA calls for disciplinary action against DSS, NCoS officials engaged in brawl over Emefiele’s custody

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), on Wednesday, condemned the public brawl engaged in by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) over who among the two services would take custody of the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria {CBN}, Godwin Emefiele.

The NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, in a statement on Wednesday, also called on the two agencies to take immediate disciplinary measures against the officers involved in the “disgraceful conduct”.

Ripples Nigeria reports that both law enforcement agencies were enmeshed in a public brawl in the premises of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos over who takes custody of the embattled apex bank chief moments after he was granted bail by Justice Nicholas Oweibo on Tuesday.

Oweibo also ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the correctional centre pending the fulfillment of the bail conditions.

According to Maikyau, the brawl between officers of the two government agencies in a federal court was a prescription for anarchy and chaos, adding that it was a “brazen disrespect for the sanctity of the court premises”.

Reacting to the development, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Habeeb Lawal, the NBA President said: “A situation where officers of Federal Government agencies engage in a fight as witnessed by the public, for whatever reason, is antithetical to our security as a nation and creates a recipe for anarchy and chaos.

“Both the DSS and the NCoS are important institutions dealing with national security and administration of justice respectively, and the need for them to work in concert towards attaining justice in a secured Nigeria cannot be overemphasized.”

Read also: Kanu’s lawyer begs Tinubu to stop DSS from disobeying court orders

“While it is difficult not to hold the leadership of the two federal government agencies directly responsible for the shameful and disgraceful conduct of the personnel, the NBA President has particularly called on the two agencies “to take immediate disciplinary measures against the officers involved in this disgraceful conduct.”

“In addition to this disciplinary measure, Mr Maikyau also advised “a complete overhaul of the institutions and a total reorientation of the personnel, to achieve professionalism and ensure synergy in the discharge of their respective constitutional responsibilities.”

“The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) remains committed to the promotion and protection of the principles of the rule of law and due process, within a safe and secured Nigeria”, the statement said.

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