A group of Nigerian civil society organisations has demanded the release of the embattled former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, from the custody of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The Coalition of Civil Society for Defence of Human Rights, led by Yusuf Maje, held a rally in Abuja on Thursday to call for Emefiele’s release.
Maje described Emefiele’s detention as a “witch hunt” by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He said Emefiele should be released or charged to court within seven days.
“We submit that his further arrest amounts to double jeopardy,” Maje said. “It is overzealousness by EFCC and a waste of government-scarce resources to subject an innocent citizen to such ordeal just to ‘teach him a lesson.’”
Maje also rejected the “Gestapo way” of handling Emefiele’s case.
“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,” he said.
Maje urged the Federal Government to release Emefiele within seven days or face the wrath of the coalition.
“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,” he said.
Emefiele was arrested on June 9, 2023, by the Department of State Services (DSS). He was released on October 25 but was immediately detained by the EFCC.
The EFCC is investigating Emefiele for alleged corruption, among other allegations.
None of the past Head of States or President since the attainment of independence in 1960, has inflicted the kind of suffering Emefiele’s inflicted on us during his tenure as the governor of CBN. Emefiele that made my family to drink ordinary garri to bed because of no access to cash to buy the needed ingredients to cook. Emefiele that starved even the unborn children in their mother’s belly. Pregnant women could not feed very well to enable the unborn children feed well. I will be the last person to support his release because that man has no conscience. He is wicked.