Detained former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo
Dasuki (rtd), has dragged the federal government to an Abuja High Court
challenging his continued incarceration since December last year. In the new
suit, Dasuki asked the court to order his immediate release from
detention either conditionally or un-conditionally.
Dasuki,
who claimed that his fundamental right to freedom of liberty and dignity
to life had been grossly violated by the federal government with his
detention, prayed for an order of the court to compel the federal
government to pay him N15 billion as general damages and compensation
for his alleged illegal detention in violation of his rights as
enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
He also prayed the court to
compel defendants in the suit to jointly and severally tender a public
apology to him to be published in two national dailies for the violation
of his rights.
Defendants in the court action are the Department of
State Security Service (DSSS), National Security Adviser (NSA),
Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) and the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC).
Dasuki asked the court to declare that he
was entitled to his rights to dignity of human person, personal liberty,
fair hearing, freedom of movement, private and family life and to
acquire and own properties as enshrined in the 1999 constitution.
He
also wants the court to declare that his arrest and continuous
detention since December 29, 2015 in the custody of the DSSS and NSA by
officers of the federal government without allowing him access to his
medical personnel, members of his family and without charging him to
court within the time prescribed by law is wrongful, unlawful,
un-constitutional and a violation of his right granted by the country’s
constitution.
Dasuki said upon his release on bail at Kuje prison on
December 29, 2015, he was re-arrested by the
operatives of the DSS and had since been kept in solitary conferment,
thereby impairing his ability to provide for his family.
The
affidavit indicated that the concern and apprehension of his family
became compounded when president Muhammadu Buhari in his maiden
Presidential media chat of December 30, 2015 said that Dasuki will not
be released because of the weight of charges against him and that he may
likely jump bail.
Dasuki claimed that unless the court comes
to his rescue by protecting him and order his immediate release, his
right to life, human dignity, personal liberty, privacy, family life,
freedom of movement and right to own properties already impaired and
violated by the defendants will continue to be impaired and put in
jeopardy.
The case has been assigned to Justice Peter Kekemekun. The court is however on vacation.
Source: Thisday