Department of State Services, DSS appeal seeking an order extending the detention of the troubled Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was rejected by a Federal Capital Territory High Court in Abuja.
According to Channels Television, the DSS legal team secretly submitted the request on Wednesday in light of allegedly fresh information.
Justice Hamza Muazu rejected the application, citing an abuse of the legal system and a lack of jurisdiction.
The DSS made the request after the agency had previously detained Emefiele outside of the Lagos courthouse after the judge had mandated that he be held in a correctional facility while his bail conditions were being followed.
After the judge questioned the court’s jurisdiction, the DSS’s attorney, Victor Ejelonu, made the decision to drop the case given the Magistrate Court’s exclusive authority to issue detention orders under Sections 293 and 296 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.