The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on Thursday opened up on why the Mahammadu Buhari-led administration had to detain former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki and the convener of the #RevolutionNow protest, Omoyele Sowore, for as long as it did after various courts had issued order for their release.
This revelation was made on Thursday by Malami while speaking on a Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) programme “Good Morning Nigeria.”
Sounding unremorseful, Malami disclosed that the Federal Government had no regrets detailing the duo for long, saying it had the constitutional right to do so. He maintained that government has all the rights in the law books to keep the duo until the Supreme Court determines otherwise. “Perhaps I need to clear the air on how the rule of law operates within the context of the Nigerian constitution. We have multiple and a plethora of judicial decisions that establish a fact that when you are challenging a court order through a judicial process, the idea of disobedience to that court order does not arise.
“The misapprehension that set into the system and deliberately put in the public space is the fact that once there is a court order, you must unconditionally comply. You can only be adjudged being in disobedience of a court order when you don’t take advantage of the constitutional powers, rights accorded to you by appealing against the order and perhaps seeking for stay of execution of the order or perhaps you don’t take any steps seeking variation of the court order. “So, in respect of those orders we are not comfortable with as a government, we go back to the court and have them challenged. Until that matter that your right of challenge, is determined up to the supreme court level, the idea of you being charged with disobedience of court order does not arise.”
Until their recent released by the Department of State Service (DSS) a federal High Court sitting in Abuja, including the ECOWAS court had on various occasions, ordered the DSS to released the detainees, but their orders were not complied with.
The conduct of the DSS which many perceive to be playing a script written by the Federal Government had promoted outrage across the land with many Nigerians accusing the government of failing to respect the rule of law.