The fight was over which agency keeps the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele in custody after the court granted him bail.
The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has denounced the secret police, Department of State Services (DSS), over its operatives' fight with officers of the Nigerian Correctional Service (NCS) at the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday.
The fight was over which agency keeps the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele in custody after the court granted him bail.
The DSS proceeded to rearrest the embattled CBN governor.
The drama ensued at the Federal High Court on Tuesday between the officials of the Nigerian Correctional Service and their DSS counterpart as DSS refused to allow the prison officials to take custody of Emefiele as ordered by the court after Justice Nicholas Oweibo granted bail to the suspended CBN governor who was arraigned for illegal possession of firearms.
At the court on Tuesday, there was a free-for-all and officials of the agencies came to blows with a senior-ranking prison official beaten up.
However, moments after the fight, a senior female DSS official arrived at the court and had a brief discussion with prison officials who later left the court.
Reacting to the incident, the Nigerian Bar Association on Wednesday in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Akorede Habeeb Lawal, decried the incident, describing it as "despicable" and brazen disrespect for the judicial process and sanctity of the court premises.
The statement read, "The NBA has particularly denounced the DSS for its peculiar part in the disgraceful and unlawful conduct, considering the fact that the Court had earlier ordered that the suspended CBN Governor be kept in a Correctional Centre pending the perfection of his bail conditions."
According to the statement, the NBA President, Mr. Yakubu Chonoko Maikyau (SAN) said, "The courts and judicial processes remain the barometer by which the conduct of persons or agencies of government are gauged in assessing the rule of law."
Maikyau further described the incident as "Further evidence of the lack of discipline and absence of professionalism that continues to plague key security institutions in Nigeria, which, without doubt, is largely responsible for the limited progress in achieving a coordinated response to security concerns across the country."
The NBA President said, "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."
The statement added, "While it is difficult not to hold the leadership of the two federal government agencies directly responsible for the shameful and disgraceful conduct of the personnel, the NBA President has particularly called on the two agencies to take immediate disciplinary measures against the officers involved in this disgraceful conduct."
Maikyau also advocated for "a complete overhaul of the institutions and a total reorientation of the personnel, to achieve professionalism and ensure synergy in the discharge of their respective constitutional responsibilities."