By Deborah Onyofufeke

Human rights lawyers, Civil Groups including Arewa Youth Consultative Movement have raised an alarm over a  plot by the Department of  State Service DSS to frame up the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele on terrorism sponsorship against Nigeria.

The group operating under the auspices of the Coalition of National Interest Defenders alleged that to achieve the aim of getting Emefiele arrested, the DSS has secretly instituted a court action against him at the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Describing the alleged action of the DSS as a strange development in the history of the country, the group demanded the immediate sack of the Director General of the DSS to prevent him from setting the country ablaze.

Addressing a joint world press conference on Monday in Abuja,  the Convener of the Coalition, Tochukwu Ohazuruike said that the Security agency filed a Motion in Court accusing the CBN governor of terrorism financing and other crimes it described as economic crimes of national security dimension.

The group also accused the State Service of not informing President Muhammadu Buhari of the investigative report which showed them that  Emefiele was a terrorist and faulted the agency for allowing Emefiele  to travel out of the country with the President and have unrestricted access to the President.

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Challenging the veracity of the claims of the DSS,  the Coalition said if truly the DG DSS believed his claims, he would not have allowed Emefiele anywhere near the President.

“Allowing Emefiele to travel with the President showed that those responsible for the legal suit did not believe Emefiele was indeed a terrorist and this, therefore, meant that the claims in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022 was made with the sole purpose of forcefully and wrongfully removing the CBN Governor from office,”the groups said.

He added that by allowing Emefiele to travel with the President, it showed the DG DSS did not believe Emefiele was indeed a terrorist and this, therefore, meant that the claims of the DSS in Suit No FHC/ABJ/CS/2255/2022 between State Security Service and Godwin Emefiele was made with the sole purpose of forcefully and wrongfully removing the CBN Governor from office.

The groups added that the surreptitious plan was being orchestrated by politicians who were not comfortable with the CBN economic reform policy, especially the Naira redesign policy, hence the secret suit filed in court against the CBN Governor.

The motion in court, he said, accused the CBN governor of terrorism financing and other crimes which the plaintiff “described as economic crimes of national security dimension.”

The groups therefore called on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Attorney General of the Federation to set the process in motion to immediately suspend, arrest, investigate and prosecute the DG DSS Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi.