The operatives of the state security service, SSS, and the Nigerian Correctional Service, NCS on Tuesday clashed at the premises of the Federal High Court, Lagos over the custody of the suspended governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Godwin Emefiele.
DAILY NIGERIAN reports that Mr Emefiele was granted bail shortly after he was arraigned on two-count charge of illegal possession of a single-barrel gun and 123 rounds of live ammunition.
But the embattled CBN governor pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The presiding judge, Nicholas Oweibo, thereafter, admitted him to bail in the sum of N20million.
The judge also ordered that Mr Emefiele be remanded at the correctional centre, pending the fulfilment of the bail conditions.
But shortly after the ruling, the SSS operatives attempted to take him back into their custody.
The SSS operatives strategically positioned their Hilux pickup van used to bring Mr Emefiele to court, in a manner suggesting that they wanted to take him back to their detention facility.
Sensing the plot by secret police, Mr Emefiele’s lead counsel, Joseph Daudu, and other lawyers raise an alarm about plans to re-arrest the former apex bank chief.
When the prison officials moved to take Mr Emefiele into custody pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions, the secret police challenged them, causing uproar in the court vicinity.
In a video trending online, the uniform of a prison official has been torn allegedly after getting manhandled by the stern-looking and heavily armed SSS operatives.
Some lawyers and citizens who were within the court premises, however, berated the unprofessional conduct of the secret police, chanting: “DSS shame on, DSS shame on you”.
Both agencies are yet to react to the video as of the time of filing this report.
