Tinubu, EFCC given 7-day ultimatum to release Emefiele

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been issued ann order to free Godwin Emefiele, the beleaguered former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).

In Abuja on Thursday, November 2, Yusuf Maje, the convener of the Coalition of Civil Society for Defense of Human Rights, issued the seven-day ultimatum.

The organization called the EFCC's detention of Emefiele irrational and an excessive display of enthusiasm.

They then issued a seven-day ultimatum to President Bola Tinubu, directing him to either free Emefiele or bring charges against him.

Recall that on October 25, after being released from the Department of State Service (DSS), Emefiele was apprehended by the EFCC.

Maje responded to the news by calling Emefiele's struggles under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration "a witch hunt."

According to him: “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.

"Granted that President Tinubu is doing everything possible to rid the country of corruption and reposition the same on the path of economic growth and sustainable development through his Renewed Hope Agenda.

“On a final note, we hereby demand that Godwin Emefiele should be released from EFCC detention or charged to court Within the Next seven from today. In the unlikely event that this demand is not met, then the Federal Government will have the overwhelming population of our Coalition to contend with across the country.”

GA