A group of Civil Society organisations under the auspice of the Coalition of National Interest Defenders has raised an alarm on an alleged grand plot by the Department of Secret Service to frame the CBN governor, Godwin Emiefiele for terrorism financing.

Addressing a press conference in Abuja today, Tochuckwu Ohazuruike, the convener of the coalition alleged that the secret service is working with some other top Nigerians to put the CBN governor into solitary confinement, because of his new monetary policy on Naira redesign and withdrawal limits from banks.

The group said it had in his possession concrete evidence of the frame-up saying that the DSS has filed charges against the CBN governor asking the court to detain him in solitary confinement for 60 days over terrorism sponsorship will oust him from his position as the helmsman of the apex bank.

Expatiating on the alleged plot, Mr Ohazuruike stated that the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022 was filed before a Federal High Court in Abuja in what appeared a covert operation as the applicants who are retired Secret Service personnel sat all through the filing processes in the office of the Deputy Court Registrar.

He wondered why the DG DSS would embark on such action without first debriefing the President and Commander in Chief. He also said if the CBN Governor was going to be tried for terrorism why did the DG SSS allow him to travel with the President to the United States recently.

He called for the immediate sack of the DG SSS for not carrying the President along and for acts capable of undermining credible elections which the new Naira design would bring to the country.

Mr Tochuckwu Ohazuruike noted that the activities of the DSS director, Yusuf Bichi, and other plotters are intended to remove the CBN governor from office before the general elections, to achieve vote buying which the Emefiele policy is working against.

The entire purpose of this dastardly plot is for political and financial benefits. The people in the plot are mighty, they are very, very strong people and they are indeed high and mighty in our government and in our country, he said.

“Apart from the already mentioned director-general of the State Security Service, our intelligence alleges that the head of one of the chambers of the National Assembly is also part of the plot. A presidential candidate of a major political party is on the plot as well.

“Also some ministers in the cabinet, a top shot of the Financial Reporting Council, a member of the leadership of one of the anti-corruption agencies, some serving and former members of parliament, including the one that is currently bandying figures that he doesn’t know against the bank, one top official in the Villa, some few desperate officials in the CBN who have been promised they would be made heads of departments including one of the two newly renominated deputy governors who has been promised the top job as the new CBN governor.

“We shall call for investigation to know how far these officials are determined to go in their plot,” Ohazurike said in his revelation of those behind the plot to arrest Emefiele.

It was also reported that Justice Tsoho in a December 13, 2022, ruling declined to authorise an arrest warrant sought by the SSS to take Mr Emefiele into custody, saying the secret police had failed to establish its claims against the CBN governor while also obscuring his identity in order to deceive the court into granting an erroneous motion.

The entire affidavit depositions….purport that preliminary investigation has revealed various acts of terrorism financing, fraudulent activities perpetrated by the respondent and his involvement in economic crimes of national security dimension,” the head of the Nigerian Federal High Court system said while ruling on the application filed ex-parte on December 9. “These are no doubt grave allegations, but which the applicant has not presented any concrete evidence to support.”

The judge said the SSS did not supply evidence indicating President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval before filing the salacious and uncorroborated allegations in court. “The respondent in this application is named as “Godwin Emefiele” without disclosure of his status or position anywhere; not even in the affidavit.

“It is left to speculation if the “Godwin Emefiele” is the same person as the serving Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. If it is, then he is unarguably a high ranking public official in Nigeria and indeed occupies a sensitive position as one of key drivers of the nation’s economy. Therefore, an application of this kind should have evidence of the approval of the respondent’s boss, that such measures are authorised to be taken.

“It therefore seems that the applicant intends to use the court as a cover for an irregular procedure, which is unacceptable. In the light of the foregoing reasons, I decline to grant this application ex-parte,” Mr Tsoho said in the judgment

The coalition further expressed their disappointment on the development, saying that the Secret Service Director General is working in conjunction with other powerful people in the presidency, the National Assembly and a presidential candidate of one of the political parties.

The Civil Society Organisations, therefore, called on President Muhammadu Buhari, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami and other relevant stakeholders to suspend, investigate and prosecute the DSS Director General, Mr. Yusuf Bichi.