$2.1bn Arms Scandal: Dasuki’s Detention Unjustifiable – Femi Falana

By Seun Opejobi on November 14, 2016

Activist lawyer, Femi Falana, on Sunday said the continued detention of former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) without a court order could not be justified under the constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, stressing that Dasuki ought to enjoy bail granted him by several courts.

Falana in a statement explained that the recent order by the Economic Community of West African State, ECOWAS Court was to allow the former NSA enjoy his “liberty within the context of the bail granted him by the trial courts.”

The statement reads, “With respect to the substantive relief, the ECOWAS Court held that the detention of Col. Dasuki without a court order could not be justified under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

“Consequently, the court ordered the release of the applicant and payment of N15m damages to him as reparation for the infringement of his human rights.
“In reporting the judgment of the ECOWAS Court the media conveyed the impression that that the federal government has been ordered to release the plaintiff unconditionally from further detention.

“Contrary to such misleading impression the ECOWAS Court has not discharged and acquitted Col. Dasuki in respect of the criminal charges pending against him in the Nigerian courts.
“All that the court said was that the suspect be allowed to enjoy his human right to liberty within the context of the bail granted him by the trial courts. In particular, the federal government was berated for treating the orders of its own courts with contempt.”

Dasuki is currently standing trial for misappropriating over $2.1 billion meant for the procurement of arms for the Military fighting Boko Haram insurgents in the north east.
The former NSA who was granted bail in December by Justice Adeniyi Ademola had dragged the Department of State Services, DSS, to ECOWAS Court over his continued detention.

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