When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) grabbed and detained Godwin Emefiele, following his release by the Department of State Security (DSS), someone speculated that whenever the EFCC was done with him, other agents of State and society would grab him too.
He listed the police, civil defence, boys scout, neighbourhood vigilante etc as those likely to take the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor hostage and do a shakedown. Well, he was on course, though he missed the details a bit. He had forgotten the courts which have in recent times shown great elasticity towards the government. Or he may have been taken in by the half-dozen court orders that granted bail or some freedom to Emefiele. Well, a reality check has popped up to remind us of the era in which we are.
An Abuja high court at which Emefiele had been charged with malfeasance remanded him in prison custody for a reason that the uninitiated would not understand. The judge was reported to have said he needed some time to look up the authorities cited by both the prosecution and the defence.
Simple folks like us thought Emefiele’s Incaceration was just a question of whether the offences he was charged with were bailable or not. We also ordinarily thought that the 151 days that the man had spent in detention would draw favourable consideration to him. His lordship ruled us wrong on both counts. Emefiele had to enjoy the harmattan breeze at Kuje Prison while his lordship looked up the quoted authorities. If only we were learned…
True to his word, the Judge looked things up, and granted bail to Emefiele in the sum of N300 million, guaranteed by property in Maitama district of Abuja.
But would the trial simply go on? Would the forces seeking Emefiele’s head wait for some justice to be served? So much apparent vindictiveness has been shown to this man since the new regime came to power. Next to petroleum subsidy which was dispatched by word of mouth on ‘coronation’ grounds, Emefiele’s ouster was top of the agenda for the new regime. First, he was suspended from office, then slammed into detention by the DSS, despite extant Court orders forbidding that. Court orders were serially procured afresh ordering his release. But the DSS was adamant.
Charges against Emefiele came by the dozens; hearings were scheduled, only to be ignored by the State at the flimsiest of excuses. Charges were substituted and hopes of trial were raised, only to be thrashed.
It was obvious that something was being worked on in a manner that was not straight forward. When it was announced that Emefiele had resigned his position as Governor of CBN, even lay observers noticed that the document was procured in captivity. All the same, nobody contested that. The attitude of family and friends seemed to be, If that is what the authorities want so badly, let them take it.
Hopes of the man’s release rose, only to be stymied by the State that seemed out to crush him body, spirit and soul.
In doing Emefiele in like this, the State is belittling itself, besmirching itself and almost dressing itself in garbs of terror. Why can’t there be a simple fair trial for this man, establishing his innocence or guilt? And if someone with the high profile of Governor of the Central Bank is being rolled in the mud this way, what would happen to the ordinary man? What has Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the democratic activist of NADECO metamorphosed into as President? Is he so distracted as not to notice the garb in which he is being dressed?
Mbamali writes from Asaba
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