High Chief Ikechi Emenike, a close ally of the former President Muhammadu Buhari, was arrested on Thursday at his DER Publications office in Surulere, Lagos, by men believed to be operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Sux men, some armed, arrived around 2:30 p.m., claiming to be from DSS’s Shangisha office on the outskirts of Lagos. No warrant was presented at the scene. Emenike was escorted into waiting vehicles and taken away. The DSS has not publicly commented on the arrest.
The manner of Emenike’s arrest by the DSS is ruffling feathers and speculations on the motivations considering current political trends in the country.
Emenike, a notable publisher, and political figure with decades of experience in business, media, locally and globally also contested the 2023 Abia State governorship election under the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He has been an active ally of the late Buhari and played a leading role in the 2014-15 Buhari Campaign Organization. In fact the late former President Muhammadu Buhari appointed Emenike’s wife, Dr Uzoma Emenike, herself a high flying career diplomat, as Nigeria’s Ambassador to the United States in 2021.
Informed sources say Emenike’s arrest may be connected to a house on Aso Drive in Abuja, where he had been a tenant for a while but the property later went into final forfeiture over a different dispute with the owner.
However, Emenike has been involved in the legal matter that developed as he asserted his right of first refusal being then the occupant of the property which he rented from a real estate and property management company in 2014. It is said that the property actually belongs to former Petroleum Minister Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Under the Buhari administration, Emenike was informed of his legal right of first refusal to purchase the property, a matter now before the court as EFCC seems set to dispose the house in a different manner.
However, Emenike has since vacated the premises which has been sealed off as the court proceedings continue.
Thus, it is baffling to observers why the EFCC resorted to “this strong-arm tactics over a matter that is before the court, ” according to an insider who’s familiar with the development.
