(ABUJA)

Detained Special Adviser to the embattled national Security Adviser [NSA], Col. Sambo Dasuki, Colonel Nicholas Ashinze, has asked Justice Yusuf Haliru of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory [FCT], Abuja, to grant him bail on self recognition.

The applicant has been in the detention facility of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) since December 23, 2015 till date without being charged to court.

Following his prolonged detention, Ashinze through his counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome SAN, filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the anti graft agency, Chief of Army Staff and the Nigerian Army, wherein he is basically seeking bail from EFCC custody.

At the hearing of the bail application, Ozekhome was present to move his application but the respondents were not present in court, neither did they file any counter affidavit in opposition to the bail application.
Moving the bail application, Ozekhome held that since the applicant has done everything within the ambit of law, he urged the court to hear the case in the absence of the respondents as the motion on notice was ripe for hearing.

Reacting, the court said the the matter could not be adjourned for the fact that the respondents were not present in court, stressing stating that he had always wanted the law agencies to appear on matters of fundamental rights in view of arbitrary detention of citizens.

“In all these cases, the courts were clear that you do not need to force a person to file a counter as all the facts filed by the applicant are deemed admitted,” Ozekhome submitted.

He therefore urged the court to grant the applicant’s bail application.

Justice Halilu has fixed March 14, 2016 for ruling.

Recall that Ashinze, through his lawyer, Ozekhome is seeking among others, “A declaration that the arrest, detention and continued detention of the Applicant from 23rd December, 2015 till date, by combined operatives of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents, without being given any reason for the continued detention of the Applicant, and without granting him administrative bail within 24 hours, or 48 hours of his arrest and detention, are illegal, wrongful, unlawful and constitute a blatant violation of his fundamental rights as enshrined in Sections 34 (1), 35 (1), (3), (4) & (6), 36 (1), 37, 41 (1), 44 (1) and 46 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered, Sections 1 (1), (2), 30 (1), (2), 31 (1), 32 (1), (2), (3), 159 (1) & 314 (1) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, and Articles 2, 3 (2), 5, 6, 7 (1) (a), (b), (d), 12 (1) & 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

“A declaration that the continued detention of the person of the Applicant, personal documents and properties of the Applicant, without any lawful reason, whatsoever, since 23rd December, 2015, till date, by combined operatives and officers of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents, is illegal, wrongful, unlawful and constitutes a violent violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights as enshrined in Sections 37, 44 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered (CFRN), Sections 1 (1), (2), of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015 (ACJA), and Articles 6 & 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

“A declaration that the continued detention of the Applicant by the combined operatives of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Respondents on the Applicant, without arraigning him before a court of competent jurisdiction, for any known offence, is illegal, wrongful, unlawful and constitutes a blatant violation of his fundamental rights as enshrined in Sections 35 (1), (3), (4), and 41 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered, Sections 1 (1), (2), and 30 (1), (2), 32 (1), (2) and (3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, and Articles 6 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”

(Godwin Tsa, SUN NEWS ONLINE)