Ecowas court orders immediate release of Dasuki and payment of N15m compensation

ECONOMIC Community West Africa States (Ecowas) court has ordered the federal government to immediately release former national security adviser Col Sambo Dasuki from detention where he has been kept without trial since December.

 

Held in connection with a $2.1bn arms scandal in which money voted to buy military equipment was diverted to private pockets, Col Dasuki is regarded as the paymaster of the plot. He has, however, denied any wrongdoing, saying he only followed instruction given to him by former president Dr Goodluck Jonathan.

 

Col Dasuki has failed in his bid to get bail in Nigerian courts, so took his case to the Ecowas court in Abuja, where judges ruled in his favour. According to the regional court, his detention violated both national and international laws on the right of persons and citizens to freedom of liberty.

 

In the judgment by delivered by Justice Friday Chijioke Nwoke, the court imposed a fine of N15m (£36,558) against the Nigeria government as compensatory damages for the deprivation of Col Dasuki's freedom to liberty and right to property. In the judgment that lasted over one hour, the regional court dismissed the allegations of unlawful possession of firearms and economic crimes used by the federal government to justify the detention of Col Dasuki, adding that the Nigerian government went off track, because the applicant applied before the court for the enforcement of his fundamental rights.

 

Justice Nwoke said that even if the applicant had committed a crime, the law still required that due process of the law should be observed in his trial. He added that it was an established fact that the applicant was put on trial in three different Nigerian high courts and was granted bail in them.

 

In addition, the court held that the Nigerian government took the law into its hands and made a mockery of the rule of law by arresting the applicant without a warrant of arrest or warrant of detention when he had legally been granted bail by the appropriate courts. According to the court, a detention order must be made in writing and must be delivered to the detainee.

 

Furthermore, the court also dismissed the claim of the federal government that Col Dasuki was arrested and detained in his own interest, adding that the claim was an assault to the Nigerian constitution and other international laws because there was no iota of evidence placed before the court that the applicant applied for security protection. According to the court, the argument of the Nigerian government that Col Dasuki was detained in his own interest contradicted the claim made by the same government that the applicant was arrested and detained because he constituted a security threat to Nigeria.