The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday granted bail to the immediate-past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), from the custody of
The Federal High Court in Abuja on Monday granted bail to the immediate-past National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), from the custody of the Department of State Services, where he had been detained for two and a half years. Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, who granted bail to Dasuki in the sum of N200m with two sureties in like sum, ruled that “the long and continued detention” of the applicant since December 29, 2015, could not be justified.
She said, “The respondents have not successfully justified the long and continued detention of the defendant. Based on the circumstances of this case and the established facts, the honourable court is of the humble but firm opinion and as affirmed by superior authorities that the applicant (Dasuki) has made out a case to warrant the intervention of this court.”
The judge, who saw the continued detention as imposing a custodial punishment on the applicant when he had yet to be convicted, said, the period of detention has become unreasonable in the circumstance. She also told the three respondents – DSS, Daura and the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN) – to focus on prosecuting Dasuki based on the fresh case of money laundering they claimed to have against him instead of sticking to a pyrrhic victory of holding him in unlawful detention.
Although the judge rejected Dasuki’s prayer for a public apology and an award of N5bn compensation, she rejected all the grounds canvassed by the three respondents to justify the ex-NSA’s continued detention. Delivering her judgment, Justice Ojukwu described the detention as an aberration of the rule of law, insisting that none of the reasons given by the respondents could serve as justification for the long detention. On the allegation that Dasuki would constitute a threat to national security, the judge said the fresh money laundering case which the respondents claimed to have against him would not affect national security.
Apart from granting bail to the applicant in the sum of N200m with two sureties in like sum, the judge also attached other bail conditions including, that the sureties must be residents of Abuja. She said the sureties could be civil servants not less than Grade Level 16 in the employment of the Federal Government or private citizens not employed by the government. If the sureties are Federal Government employees, they will deposit the certified copies of their letters of appointment and last promotion letters with the court, the judge said. But the judge said if they were private citizens not employed by the Federal Government, they must own properties in the Abuja metropolis and must submit the original title documents to the registry of the court.
Such sureties are also to submit to the court, their evidence of tax payments for 2015, 2016 and 2017. The judge also ordered that either of one of two sureties to be presented or Dasuki himself, should pay the sum of N100m to the court’s account which could only be taken back after the completion of the case against him, to guarantee the bail. While the court ordered that Dasuki’s passport must remain in the custody of the court, it also ordered bailiffs to verify the addresses of the sureties.
