Again, court grants Dasuki bail

Mon, Jul 2, 2018 | By publisher


Judiciary

A federal high court sitting in Abuja has granted bail to Sambo Dasuki, a retired colonel and former national security adviser.

This is the sixth bail granted to the former NSA. However, he has remained in custody of the Department of State Services, DSS.

Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, the trial judge, on Monday, July 2, described Dasuki’s continuous detention over the past two and a half years as an aberration to the rule of law and the contrition.

Ojukwu, therefore, grated the former NSA bail in the sum of N200 million and two sureties.

The sureties according to the judge, must not be lower than grade 16 in the civil service and where they are private citizens they must be owners of landed properties in Asokoro, Maitama, Utako or Garki area of Abuja.

Besides, each surety is expected to pay a sum of 100 million as bail guarantee into the court’s litigation account.

Nevertheless, Ojukwu took a swipe at the DSS, stating that it could not give itself the powers to met out punishment at a person, as only the court has the powers to do so at the end of a trial.

She, therefore, ordered that should the DSS want to interview the former NSA in the future, it must be done without detention and on a working day.

The former NSA has also filed a fundamental right to liberty suit, asking the court to order the DSS to release him after two and a half years in detention without trial.

He also asked the court to award him five billion Naira as general damages and asked it to order the DSS as well as the Attorney-General of the Federation to tender a public apology to him for a long, unlawful and illegal detention.

Ojukwu, however, concluded that since bail had been granted, the court was not inclined to award damages.

Dasuki had been arrested in 2015 over an alleged diverting $2.1billion arms funds. He was later arraigned in court on 18-charge. But since then the case has suffered series of delays.

– Jul. 2, 2018 @ 13:35 GMT |

 

 

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