FG’s volte face on Dasuki, Sowore
The release from detention of former National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki and RevolutionNow movement leader Omoyele Sowore on Christmas eve last Tuesday did not earn for the Federal Government the kudos it deserved because it held them for far two long after several courts ordered their release on bail. Key officials also contradicted themselves […]
The release from detention of former National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki and RevolutionNow movement leader Omoyele Sowore on Christmas eve last Tuesday did not earn for the Federal Government the kudos it deserved because it held them for far two long after several courts ordered their release on bail. Key officials also contradicted themselves in the matter; conflicting reasons were given for why government finally complied with the court orders. Much worse, the release came only days after six American legislators published a letter intervening for Sowore because he is resident in the US.
On Tuesday, Attorney General of the Federation [AGF] and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN announced that he had ordered the Department of State Services [DSS] to release the two men from detention. This was a major volte face because only eight days earlier, on December 16, Malami said in a letter to Sowore’s lawyer Femi Falana that he had no power to order DSS to release Sowore “without recourse to court.” Falana wrote to him three days earlier and demanded Sowore’s release when the AGF took over prosecution of his case soon after the client’s controversial re-arrest inside the Federal High Court premises on December 16. That AGF now did exactly what he said he had no power to do was quite murky.
Malami said the decision to release them was in compliance with the bail granted to them by the courts. This reason sounded very hollow because DSS continued to detain Sowore after a court first granted him bail. When the Federal High Court judge gave a 24-hour ultimatum for his release, DSS released him, only to re-arrest him again a few hours later. Dasuki’s case was much worse. He was held in detention for four years despite securing bail nine times from different courts.
It is this bundle of contradictions that caused many Nigerians to believe that reprieve came for the two men only because of foreign intervention. Four days before their release, US senators Robert Menendez, Charles Schumer, Cory Booker and Christopher Coons as well as Congressmen Bill Pascrell and John Gotheirmer signed a letter to Malami, intervening on Sowore’s behalf. It came on top of calls by the US Department of State and the UK Foreign Office for the government to salvage Nigeria’s human rights and rule of law record by respecting court orders.
In future, we urge government not to allow DSS to violate court orders in the name of national security because the courts have a constitutional duty to discharge and they are not unmindful of the ramifications of their orders. No one has the right or power under the constitution to “protect national security” in defiance of court orders. Meanwhile, we expect Col. Sambo Dasuki and Omoyele Sowore to dutifully appear in court and defend themselves from the grave charges levelled against them.
Which leaves the matter of Islamic Movement of Nigeria [IMN] leader Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky still hanging. The AGF said last week that the Federal Government will not interfere because the Shi’ite leader is being prosecuted by a state government. This is another disingenuous explanation because he has been held since November 2015 and Kaduna State government only began prosecuting him after three years. In the same spirit of protecting individual freedoms, upholding the rule of law and improving this country’s democratic credentials, we urge the AGF, Kaduna State Government and DSS to work through the courts and release Sheikh El-Zakzaky on bail. All appropriate safeguards should be inserted in the bail conditions to ensure that in future, his overzealous and often unruly followers also respect constituted authority.