Tag Archives: ECOWAS Court

$2.1bn Arms Scandal: Dasuki’s detention unjustifiable – Femi Falana

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Activist lawyer, Femi Falana, on Sunday said the continued detention of former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki (rtd) without a court order could not be justified under the constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, stressing that Dasuki ought to enjoy bail granted him by several courts.

 

Falana in a statement explained that the recent order by the Economic Community of West African State, ECOWAS Court was to allow the former NSA enjoy his “liberty within the context of the bail granted him by the trial courts.”

 

The statement reads, “With respect to the substantive relief, the ECOWAS Court held that the detention of Col. Dasuki without a court order could not be justified under the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.

 

“Consequently, the court ordered the release of the applicant and payment of N15m damages to him as reparation for the infringement of his human rights.

 

“In reporting the judgment of the ECOWAS Court the media conveyed the impression that that the federal government has been ordered to release the plaintiff unconditionally from further detention.

 

“Contrary to such misleading impression the ECOWAS Court has not discharged and acquitted Col. Dasuki in respect of the criminal charges pending against him in the Nigerian courts.

 

“All that the court said was that the suspect be allowed to enjoy his human right to liberty within the context of the bail granted him by the trial courts. In particular, the federal government was berated for treating the orders of its own courts with contempt.”

 

Dasuki is currently standing trial for misappropriating over $2.1 billion meant for the procurement of arms for the Military fighting Boko Haram insurgents in the north east.

 

The former NSA who was granted bail in December by Justice Adeniyi Ademola had dragged the Department of State Services, DSS, to ECOWAS Court over his continued detention.

 

ECOWAS court on October 4, had ordered the Federal Government to pay N15m as compensation to Dasuki, over his “unlawful arrest and detention.”

ECOWAS Court Order: Why Buhari Will Keep Dasuki In Detention

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Dasuki, NSA in the former President Goodluck Jonathan administration, is standing trial for embezzlement of over $15 billion fund meant for equipment and other logistics to fight Boko Haram, the insurgent group troubling the Northeastern part of the country.

The ECOWAS Court on Tuesday ordered Dasuki’s release. He went to the court after a Federal High Court’s order that he should be released was ignored.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s biographer, JohnPaden, hinted that Dasuki’s release from detention may not happen soon.

In Chapter 15 of the book, “Muhammadu Buhari – The challenges of Leadership in Nigeria” which focuses on ‘Military Procurement Accountability’, Paden noted that Buhari believed in confronting to the end any act of corruption that will undermine the integrity of the military.

He also disclosed that such corruption in military procurement that puts the lives of the foot soldiers at risk is capable of endangering the Nigeria Project itself.

Paden writes: “For Buhari who has said openly that he wants to be remembered for fighting corruption, it will be an unmitigated disaster for his legacy if such a gargantuan fleecing went on in his primary constituency, the military, and he failed to unearth it and punish the culprits.

“Buhari knows that Task Force and Division Commanders knew of and approved these arms purchases; Service Chiefs knew too; Ministers of Defence and Finance knew; Chief of Staff knew; civil servants in the Ministries of Defence and Finance knew, Chief of Staff to the President knew; the Vice President knew; and the President knew. It is why Buhari will keep his foot on Dasuki’s throat until he fesses up.

“Who really was Sambo Dasuki fronting for in Jonathan’s cabinet? That is the main question to which Buhari is also seeking answers.”

Paden continued: “As noted throughout this study, Buhari has a strong belief in right and wrong. He also has an abiding respect for the Nigerian military as an institution that can help hold Nigeria together.

“From Buhari’s perspective, if corruption in military procurement undermines the integrity of the military, that corruption must be confronted.

“And if such procurement allegations weaken the military response to Boko Haram and put ordinary foot soldiers at risk, that corruption poses a double threat, endangering even the Nigeria Project itself.”

Paden however ruled out personal or political affiliation as a reason for Dasuki’s continuous incarceration.

He said: “It is beyond the scope of this study to assess all the back stories of the relationship between Buhari and Dasuki. Suffice it to say that the so-called grudge between the two has never really existed.

“Dasuki is twelve years younger than Buhari, even though Dasuki did participate in the 1985 countercoup. The family of Ibrahim Dasuki and the Buhari extended family have been linked by marriage for more than four decades.

“In addition, in his inaugural address, Buhari had professed that although ‘the past is prologue’, he had no time to pursue alleged ‘enemies.”

“Other personal relationships in play included Buhari’s relationship with Jonathan’s Minister of Defence, General Aliyu Gusau and Buhari’s relationship with General Babangida, who has played such a ubiquitous role in Fourth Republic politics.

“Yet the real story probably has little to do with personal or political relationships.”

ECOWAS Court To Rule On Dasuki’s Case Against Nigerian Govt

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The West African regional court is to deliver judgment on a suit filed by a former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki, against the Nigeria government.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice will rule on Mr. Dasuki’s petition that his rights had been violated by the Nigerian government.

Mr. Dasuki has been held by the government since December 2015, despite being granted bail by three courts.

Mr. Dasuki asked the ECOWAS Court to award him N500 million in damages for the alleged violation of his fundamental human rights.

Justice Friday Nwoke postponed the judgement originally scheduled for June 29 as judges went on vacation.

Proceedings in the case ended with the conclusion of oral evidence by two officials of the State Security Service, SSS.

Lawyers who represented the federal government, Williams Obiora and Alu Agbi, told the court that Mr. Dasuki was detained for his own protection.

Mr. Agbe said Mr. Dasuki’s release from detention would constitute a threat to national security.

They told the Court that considering that national security superseded individual security, the law permitted the SSS to restrict the movement of any citizen when his life was in danger.

They also argued that Mr. Dasuki was illegally in possession of firearms.

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http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/211924-ecowas-court-rule-dasukis-case-nigerian-govt.html

Kogi Indigenes Drag Govt To ECOWAS Court Over Bello

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Lawyers yesterday continued to differ on the implications of the new Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello being sworn in without a deputy.

Meanwhile, 24 hours after Bello was sworn in, a group of concerned indigenes have approached the ECOWAS Court of Justice seeking to nullify the election in which Bello was declared a winner.

In another development, campaign coordinators for Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello in the Eastern Senatorial District of the state, yesterday offered an insight into why they nominated an Abuja-based publisher, Mr. Gowon Usman Egbunu as their preferred deputy governorship candidate.

A Lagos-based Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) Kemi Pinheiro (SAN) has said that the absence of a deputy during Wednesday’s inauguration of Bello as the governor of Kogi State did not affect the validity of Bello’s inauguration at all.

Pinheiro, who was reacting to the situation in a telephone interview said the fact that Bello did not contest the election in the first place revealed the lacuna in the constitution.

According to him, the absence of a deputy has not affected the validity of the inauguration at all.”

But constitutional lawyer, James Ezike thought otherwise, describing the action as an aberration and demonstration of an end to an era.

To the lawyer, there is nothing about the present government that is constitutional. According to him, it is strange for a man who overthrew a democratically elected government Alhaji Shehu Shagari to now be talking about treasonable felony.

In a suit, the plaintiffs , Sule Audu, Ikeleji Agada, Labaran Ismail Dadido, Isaka Isa Abdul Audu Ademu Abdullahi and Sulaiman Abdul, through their attorney, Festus A. Ogwuche, stated that the election of Bello was not in conformity or consistent with Nigeria’s international obligations.

Credit: Guardian

 

Dasuki Drags FG To ECOWAS Court, Demands N500m Damages

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Former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Mohammed Sambo Dasuki (retd), has dragged the Federal Government before ECOWAS Court in Abuja over his continued detention. He is also demanding payment of N500 million damages for alleged rights infringement.
This is even as a Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday ordered the government to produce him by February 16.
Dasuki is also urging the sub-regional court to order his release forthwith.
In the suit filed by his lawyer, Robert Emukpoeruo, the former NSA is urging the court to declare among others, that his continued detention in defiance of orders for his bail granted by three courts, and after fulfilling the bail conditions, was “unlawful, arbitrary and an egregious violation” of his human rights.
The applicant also urged the ECOWAS Court to hold that it was, “a most egregious violation of the treaty obligations” signed by Nigeria under and by virtue of its being a signatory to legal instruments, to have unlawfully detained him under a “de-humanizing condition” after he had  been granted bail and met the conditions for his release.
Similarly, the former NSA would want the court to declare that the alleged invasion of his privacy, home and correspondence at his Abuja and Sokoto residences on July 16 and 17, 2015 and the “forceful and unlawful seizure” of his properties, “without any lawful order or warrant” constituted a gross violation of his fundamental rights and offended the country’s treaty obligations as a signatory to the listed legal instruments.

Credit: Sun