Fines Nigeria N15m for unlawful detention
From Godwin Tsa, Abuja
It was a major victory for the detained former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki, yesterday, when the Economic Community of West Africa State (ECOWAS) Court in Abuja ordered the Federal Government of Nigeria to release him from detention.
The court further ordered the Nigerian government to pay the retired spy, who has been in detention since December 29, 2016, without trial, the sum of N15 million as compensation for unlawful detention and deprivation of his properties.
In its judgment yesterday, the regional court held that the detention of Dasuki violated both national and international laws on the right of persons and citizens to freedom of liberty.
Justice Friday Nwoke, who delivered the judgment of the regional court dismissed the allegations of unlawful possession of firearms and economic crimes used by the federal government as reasons for his detention.
Justice Nwoke held that the Nigerian government missed the point because the case of Dasuki was weaved on the enforcement of his breached and contravened fundamental rights.
The judge said even if the applicant had committed a crime, the law still has it that due process of the law must be observed in his trial. He said it was an established fact that the applicant was put on trial in three different Nigerian High Courts and was granted bails by the courts.
The court said the action of the Nigerian government in subjecting the ex-NSA to indefinite detention without trial “is condemnable because criminality has not been established against him.”
The regional court carpeted the federal government on its claim that it detained Dasuki without trial because he (Dasuki) was planning to stage a coup and wage war against millions of Nigerians.