Armsgate: Why we can’t release Dasuki –FG

Freedom from detention and the clutches of the Federal Government for former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.) is not on the horizon soon.
Yesterday, the federal government told the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) it would be dangerous to release Dasuki from custody because he constitutes a threat to national security.
Dasuki was re-arrested on December 29, 2015 by the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) shortly after he was released on bail from Kuje Prisons, Abuja, with respect to his ongoing trial on three separate sets of charges.
Dasuki’s application for freedom at the ECOWAS court suffered a blow when government called two witnesses to oppose his fundamental human rights enforcement suit seeking his release from DSS custody.
Through its witnesses and its lawyer, Mr. T. D Kabiru, who led the witnesses in evidence, the federal government said yesterday that apart from being held because he constituted a threat to national security, he was also being held owing to his involvement in the over $2 billion arms funds scam.
Government also said given his pivotal role in the $2 billion scam and the calibre of top politicians who had been fingered and arrested in the alleged fraud, Dasuki was being kept in DSS custody for his own safety.
It said with the quantum of  arms and ammunition alleged to be illegally kept in the ex-NSA’s  home in Abuja and recovered by security operatives, there was the general apprehension that he possessed more, which the state had yet to discover.
The federal government argued the Dasuki’s detention was justified based on the intelligence and security report in the disposal of the nation’s security agencies, and  that national security superseded individual’s security.
Also, an operative of the DSS told the ECOWAS Court that the security details, including soldiers, attached to Dasuki were not withdrawn by the federal government when his Asokoro residence, in Abuja, was searched over allegations of unlawful possession of arms last year.
The witness, Mr. Williams Obiora informed the court that a retinue of security agents, mainly soldiers, were still in his house, guarding him when the DSS stormed the place in search of weapons.
Having listened to the submissions by both parties, the presiding judge, Justice Friday Nwoke fixed judgment till June 29, 2016.
Dasuki had dragged government before the regional court claiming that his fundamental right to freedom of liberty was being infringed or trampled upon by his detention since December 2015 without trial.