NBA, Ubani, Falana, others knock DSS over ‘disgraceful’ conduct

<p>• Agency ‘has not broken any laws’, says spokesman • DSS begins ‘detailed investigations’ into fight with NCoS officials • Emefiele condemns continued detention</p>, <p>Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), yesterday, condemned what it called disrespect for judicial process and sanctity of court premises by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).</p>, <p>Former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had been granted N20 million bail by the Federal High Court in Lagos, on Tuesday, following his arraignment and “not guilty” plea to a two-count charge on alleged possession of a shotgun without a licence.</p>, <p>The court had ordered that Emefiele be remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) facility in Ikoyi. DSS personnel, however, had fought off the NCoS operatives at the court premises, assaulted one of their commanders, before seizing and whisking Emefiele away.</p>, <p>NBA President, Yakubu Maikyau, said the association particularly denounced DSS for its disgraceful and unlawful conduct, considering the fact that the court had earlier ordered that suspended CBN Governor be kept in a correctional centre, pending perfection of his bail conditions.</p>, <p>He added: “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. It is difficult not to hold the leadership of the two agencies directly responsible for the shameful and disgraceful conduct of the personnel.”</p>, <p>He called on the two agencies to take immediate disciplinary measures against the officers involved in the disgraceful conduct.</p>, <p>This was as DSS said it had commenced investigations into the inter-agency clas