Under the defunct military junta in Nigeria\u00a0 the Constitution was suspended while fundamental rights were put in abeyance. To justify the detention of the so called political extremists and other subversive elements the\u00a0 Buhari\/Idiagbon junta promulgated the State Security (Detention of Persons) Decree no 2 of 1984. My colleagues and I in the human rights community were regularly detained\u00a0 under the\u00a0 preventive detention decree .\u00a0\u00a0 But despite the draconian decree\u00a0 the courts never hesitated to order the release of several persons whose detention was patently illegal.<\/p>\n
Ironically, General Mohammadu Buhari was later detained\u00a0 by the Babangida junta under Decree No 2 of 1984. During his visit to Edo State last week, President Buhari recalled\u00a0 that he was incarcerated in Benin city\u00a0 for 2 years out of his\u00a0 3-year incarceration.\u00a0\u00a0 But upon the restoration of civil rule in May 1999 Decree 2 and other obnoxious\u00a0 decrees and edicts\u00a0 were repealed. In addition, section 35 of the Constitution has guaranteed the fundamental right to personal liberty. Thus, every person who is arrested and detained by the police or any security agency\u00a0 shall be arraigned in court within 24 or 48 hours as the case may be. If for any reason the detainee is not arraigned in court\u00a0 within the stipulated time the detaining authority shall grant bail or\u00a0 obtain a remand order from a Magistrate court pursuant to section 293 of the ACJA 2015.<\/p>\n
When\u00a0 the residence of Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) was searched by the State Security Service last year he accused the Federal Government of the breach of his human rights to personal liberty.\u00a0 Since the search was conducted based on a warrant issued by a Magistrate in the Federal Capital Territory I pointed out that the Federal Government\u00a0 had acted within the ambit of the rule of law. Subsequently, he was charged with illegal possession of firearms at the Federal High Court and money laundering offences at the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory. Notwithstanding the gravity of the charges Col. Dasuki was admitted to bail by the three trial courts.<\/p>\n
Upon his fulfilling the bail conditions on\u00a0December 29\u00a0last year the authorities of Kuje prisons released him. However, before stepping out of the precints of the prison he was immediately rearrested by the State Security Service. Convinced that the fresh arrest could not be justified under the Nigerian Constitution I advised the Federal Government to comply with the orders admitting the suspect to bail pending his trial. I equally cautioned against playing into the hands of any of the criminal suspects standing trial for alleged criminal diversion of public funds.\u00a0 For reasons best known to the Federal Government the demand for Col. Dasuki’s release was ignored. Since then the suspect has taken advantage of his illegal incarceration to\u00a0 frustrate his criminal trial by alleging denial of access to his defence counsel.<\/p>\n
It was at that juncture that\u00a0 Col. Dasuki was compelled to approach the Court of Justice of\u00a0 the Economic Community of West African States, otherwise called “the Ecowas Court” to secure the enforcement of his human rights to personal liberty guaranteed by article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. In its defence the federal government characteristically challenged the\u00a0 jurisdictional competence of the Ecowas Court to hear and determine the suit. The preliminary objection was dismissed. 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.\u00a0 Consequently, the court ordered the\u00a0 release of the applicant and payment of N15 million\u00a0 damages to him as reparation for the infringement of his human rights.<\/p>\n
In reporting the judgment of the Ecowas court\u00a0 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\u00a0 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\u00a0 was that the suspect\u00a0 be allowed to enjoy his human right to liberty within the context of the bail granted him by the trial courts. In particular,\u00a0 the Federal Government was berated for treating the orders of its own courts with contempt.<\/p>\n
Having loudly\u00a0 proclaimed to operate under the rule of law Nigeria cannot afford to ignore the order of the Ecowas Court . Indeed, as a leading member state of the Ecowas the Nigerian Government must continue to demonstrate leadership by example. More so that it was federal government which\u00a0 persuaded\u00a0 the former military dictators in Niger Republic to\u00a0 to release ex-President Mammoud Tandja from custody in line with the order of the Ecowas Court . Therefore, President\u00a0\u00a0 Buhari should direct the SSS to comply with the order of the Ecowas Court by releasing\u00a0 Col. Dasuki (rtd) on bail without any further delay .<\/p>\n
Having failed to halt the violations of the human rights\u00a0 of the Nigerian people the United States government has banned the Buhari administration from purchasing war planes to prosecute the war on terror. A similar ban under the Jonathan administration prolonged the war on terror. While the ban may be questioned in view of the global fight against terrorism the federal government should release all\u00a0 political detainees from custody and stop the police and other security agencies from\u00a0 infringing on the\u00a0 human rights of the Nigerian people .<\/p>\n
Femi Falana
\nHuman Rights Lawyer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Under the defunct military junta in Nigeria\u00a0 the Constitution was suspended while fundamental rights were put in abeyance. To justify the detention of the so called political extremists and other…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n