Last week, a most horrendous spectacle unfolded at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos State, as operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) descended on personnel of the Nigeria Correctional Service (NCoS) following proceedings at the court. The assault took place after Justice Nicholas Oweibo admitted the suspended Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to bail in the sum of N20 million following his not-guilty plea in the gun possession charge filed against him by the DSS and ordered his remand in prison pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions. The DSS operatives had strategically positioned the Hilux pick up van used to bring Emefiele to court in a manner suggesting that they wanted to take the suspect back to their detention centre regardless of the orders of the court and, alarmed by this development, Emefiele’s lawyers had drawn the court’s attention to the situation. After the court ruling, the suspended CBN governor remained within the courtroom with his lawyers. However, when the prison officials eventually moved to take him into custody, the secret police challenged them and, in the ensuing melee, beat up a high ranking NCos officer and tore his uniform. The secret police eventually had their way.

Predictably, Emefiele’s re-arrest led to outrage in the polity. Among other stakeholders, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) deplored the incident, describing it as despicable. The NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, called on the two agencies to take immediate disciplinary measures against the officers involved in the incident. Maikyau said: “This incident, regrettably, is 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. The NBA condemns the brazen disrespect for the sanctity of the court premises. 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. There is an urgent need for 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.”

Without doubt, the rule of law is the bedrock of democracy and society and court decisions ought to be respected and not treated with disdain. Regardless of the weight of the case against suspects, the law affords them certain inalienable rights that must not be trifled with if the society is to remain a lawful assembly of people bound by a common humanity. As a matter of fact, trifling with the orders of the court of law amounts to a resort to self-help and, ultimately, a recourse to the nasty, short and brutish state of affairs that the institution called government aims to forestall. Unless and until set aside by a higher court, the orders of a court are sacrosanct, and no security agency is allowed to dispense with them for any reason. Sadly, however, security agencies in the land have, because of the lack of consequences, treated court orders with disdain for decades, giving the impression that they are above the law which facilitated their very existence and creating panic and despair among a weary and shell-shocked populace.

In the instant case, the DSS operatives may have thought that since they were the ones who brought Emefiele to court, they should be allowed to return him to their custody as they perhaps still had other issues to interrogate him on. The truth, however, was that a valid court order had been given in the case that ought to be effected before any further action by the DSS. This is what the operation of the rule of law dictates, particularly with the DSS still at liberty thereafter, as part of the wider government anyway, to approach the court for a fresh order of remand. In the eyes of the law, Emefiele could still be arrested even after he must have affected the bail granted him by the court since the new arrest would be in relation to other issues. The forceful trampling on the court order and the public molestation of personnel of the NCoS were, therefore, totally uncalled for. They constituted a mockery of the rule of law in the country.

The show of shame also reflects badly on the government and its agencies, portraying them as unruly and indecent lots who have no regard for due process. We hope that the government is utterly embarrassed by the incident and will take action against all those involved in it. Government representatives must learn to conduct themselves, particularly in public, with decorum and civility and in line with the established rules. The recourse to public brigandage makes nonsense of the respect due to the government and its representatives. It undermines their credibility and legitimacy. Government must therefore be seen to publicly disavow of the shameful conduct and punish it accordingly. Desecrating the court of law is contempt of the highest order: you cannot be judge in your own case. The officers and men of the security agencies must respect the sanctity of the court, and the judiciary must, in the face of open recalcitrance, be ready to commit them to prison to serve as a deterrent. No two ways about it.

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