Chai! ECOWAS Court Orders FG To Pay N15m For‘Unlawfully’ Arresting Dasuki

The Court of the Economic Community of West
African States, ECOWAS, on Tuesday declared the
arrest and detention of former National Security
Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, as unlawful and arbitrary.

The court also held that the further arrest of Mr.
Dasuki by government on November 4, after he was
granted bail by a court of law, amounts to a
mockery of democracy and the rule of law.

Mr. Dasuki is facing multiple trials for alleged
diversion of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of
arms in the immediate past administration.
He is also accused of illegal possession of fire
arms.

He approached the ECOWAS court after he was
rearrested by members of Nigeria’s State Security
Service shortly after meeting his bail conditions in
November last year. He has remained in the
custody of the SSS since his arrest.

On Tuesday, a three-member panel led by Justice
Friday Nwoke said Nigeria’s government was wrong
in arresting Mr. Dasuki without a search warrant,
adding that the pattern of arrest negates the
provisions of Section 28 of the Nigerian Police Act.

According to the said section, a superior police
officer may authorise the search of a resident
belonging to a suspect assumed to be in illegal
possession of an item, if the officer so authorised
has a search warrant.

The court also noted that Section 143 of the
Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, allows
that where such a search is proposed by the police
or other authorities, an application must first be
made to a court of law and and granted after due
consideration of the said application, in compliance
with section 144 of the ACJA.

The court further said the submission of Nigerian
government that it came with the search warrant to
Mr. Dasuki’s house but could not give it to him,
because officers at his residence resisted the
security operatives, was ineffective in proving its
points.

Acording to the judge, the search warrant presented
before the ECOWAS court was not certified and
therefore lacks verifiable authenticity.

The court said government failed to prove its
reasons for arresting and detaining Mr. Dasuki, as
documents presented before it only emphasised the
allegations of fraud and illegal possession of arms.

It added that the ECOWAS court was not set to
determine whether or not the possession of arms
by Mr. Dasuki amounted to an offence or not.

It however decided that the arrest was unlawful,
arbitrary and a violation of local and international
rights to liberty.

The court ruled that Federal Government should pay
a sum of N15 million as damages to Mr. Dasuki.

It also decided that the cost of litigation will be
summed up and charged against the Nigerian
government.

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