A Nigerian Civil Society Organisation has demanded the release of embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, detained by officers of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Convener of the Coalition of the Civil Society Alliance for the Defense of Human Rights, Yusuf Maje, made this known at the “Free Emefiele Rally” in Abuja on Thursday.
News About Nigeria recalls that the Department of State Security released Emefiele on October 25, after he was arrested on June 9, 2023.
However, the EFCC immediately arrested him when he left the custody of the DSS.
Reacting to the development, Maje said the suffering of Emefiele at the hands of the government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was political persecution.
The group described the EFCC’s arrest of Emefiele as unfair and a sign of bad faith.
He added that Tinubu must release Emefiele within seven days or take him to court.
He said: “We submit that his further arrest amounts to double jeopardy. It is overzealousness by EFCC and a waste of government-scarce resources to subject an innocent citizen to such an ordeal just “to teach him a lesson”. Public members are worried that EFCC has allowed itself to be used as an instrument of oppression rather than the anti-corruption agency that it ought to be.
“We state authoritatively that the tossing of Godwin Emefiele like a football in the field from one government agency to another in the name of investigation is unacceptable and will be frontally resisted.
“We reject this Gestapo way of doing things because Nigeria is no longer under a military junta where the rights of innocent citizens can be abruptly suspended.”
