CNPP and CSOs call for Emefiele to be released from DSS custody.

"For the immediate release of the abducted suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), as the court has already granted him bail," the Conference of Nigeria Parties (CNPP) and a coalition of civil society organisations have demanded.

A draconian regime has already been associated with President Bola Tinubu's administration in the minds of Nigerians due to the recent activities of the secret police, so the CNPP, an umbrella organisation of all registered political parties and associations in Nigeria, joined the civil society organisations to demand the same of him.

Comrade James Ezema, the CNPP's deputy national publicity secretary, and Alhaji Ali Abacha, the CSOs' national secretary, stated in a joint statement that "respect for court order is one of the core aspects of a democratic society.

No investor will put his money in a country where a clear order of a court with competent jurisdiction is disregarded at will, despite the fact that Nigeria needs investors to come.

The groups had earlier urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to demonstrate to Nigerians that he is a true democratic by upholding the rule of law in opposition to what they called the All Progressives Congress's (APC) invented script of detention without trial, which uses fictitious allegations to keep suspected political enemies in detention for an indefinite period of time.

"It has become not just a national show of shame but an international embarrassment that the age-old inter-agency rivalry in Nigeria would be brought to the full view of the public where DSS operatives will be manhandling a security personnel on official duty in a court premises," the CNPP and the CSOs urged President Bola Tinubu to order the DSS.

"Whatever happened to agency collaboration? Given that Godwin Emefiele was ordered to be held in jail custody by the correctional service by the court, why won't the DSS ask a judge for a warrant to re-arrest him?

"The DSS only approached the court after intimidating penitentiary officers and kidnapping the CBN Governor who had been suspended. Naturally, a judge who is familiar with the circumstances of the case will refuse to make such a ruling that would legalise illegal activity.

We thus urge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to put an end to this illegality and order the DSS lest Nigerians mistakenly conclude that he chose to lead a repressive democratic regime, which is already the perception being formed.

"Those who are knowledgeable know that we criticised the CBN Governor harshly while he was in office, but if society is to advance, what is right must be praised, and what is bad must be decried.

The CNPP and the CSOs stated, "In the current situation, we call for the immediate release of the abducted suspended CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS), as the court has already granted him bail and if the Federal Government has any established case against him, the rule of law should be followed."