Punish officers involved in fight over custody of Emefiele - NBA to DSS, Prison Service

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has condemned the secret police, Department of State Services (DSS), over its operatives' scuffle with officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday.

In a viral video, the officers were fighting over which agency keeps the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele in custody after the court granted him bail for the possession of illegal firearm.

On Tuesday, officials of the agencies came to blows with a senior-ranking prison official beaten up.

The DSS proceeded to rearrests the embattled CBN governor after a senior female DSS official arrived at the court and had a brief discussion with prison officials who later left the court.

The Nigeria Bar Association in a statement on Wednesday described the incident as "despicable" and brazen disrespect for the judicial process and sanctity of the court premises.

The statement read, "The NBA has particularly denounced the DSS for its peculiar part in the disgraceful and unlawful conduct, considering the fact that the Court had earlier ordered that the suspended CBN Governor be kept in a Correctional Centre pending the perfection of his bail conditions."

"The courts and judicial processes remain the barometer by which the conduct of persons or agencies of government are gauged in assessing the rule of law."

"Further evidence of the lack of discipline and absence of professionalism that continues to plague key security institutions in Nigeria, which, without doubt, is largely responsible for the limited progress in achieving a coordinated response to security concerns across the country."

"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 overemphasised."

"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."

The NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN) also said, "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."