The Court of Appeal in Abuja has admitted detained Colonel Sambo Dasuki, a former National Security Adviser (NSA), to bail in the sum of N100m and two sureties in like sum.
Dasuki has been in custody of the Department of State Service (DSS) for nearly four years without a valid court order and has not been arraigned for a fresh charge after four different courts including the ECOWAS Court of Justice had ordered for his release.
A three-member panel of the Justices of the Court of Appeal in a unanimous judgment faulted the DSS for keeping Dasuki for that long without taking him to court and filing fresh charges against him.
The panel led by Justice Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson declared Dasuki’s detention since December 29, 2015, by the DSS as illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and accordingly slammed N5m damages against the government agency for the said illegal act.
The said amount to be paid to Dasuki is to compensate him for breach of his fundamental right.
The appeal court ordered that the DSS and its Director General should not detain Dasuki again and that whenever he is required on any allegation, it must be conducted within the working days and from 9am to 6pm for him to go home.
The court also ordered that the international passport of the ex NSA shall remain with the Deputy Chief Register of the high court for the time being.
Meanwhile the two sureties shall be serving public servants not below the status of level 16 officers in either state or public service of the Federal or any of its agencies and shall produce a valid documents of his or her status to the registrar of the Federal High Court in Abuja.
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Each surety must be resident within the jurisdiction of the high court and other physical address must be verified by the court registrar and shall also produce two recent passport size photographs in addition to deposing to affidavit of means.
The sureties each shall furnish evidence of ownership of property in the Federal Capital Territory worth N100m
A Federal High Court Judge, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu, had on July 2, 2018, admitted Dasuki to bail on conditions the NSA complained to be too harsh and stringent for his family to perfect especially deposit of N100m to the high court registrar by his sureties before he can be released on bail.
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