A human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), said on Sunday that the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), had embarrassed the executive and exposed the judiciary to ridicule with his comments after the release of Omoyele Sowore and Sambo Dasuki from illegal custody.
Falana, who is Sowore’s lead defence counsel, said in a statement that the minister initially said he directed the Department of State Services to release the men from custody in line with the various court orders for their release, but later turned around to argue that they were released out of compassion.
The senior lawyer maintained on Sunday that the two men were kept in detention in violation of the various orders of the Federal High Court, the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Abuja and the ECOWAS court “based on erroneous legal advice.”
Dasuki, who is a former National Security Adviser, was on Christmas Eve of 2019, released by the DSS from custody after about four years, despite a series of court orders issued for his release.
Sowore, who is the SaharaReporters’ publisher and convener of #RevolutionNow protests, was arrested on August 3, 2019 for allegedly planning to overthrow the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd).
The former presidential candidate in the 2019 election was also released by the DSS on Christmas Eve after he was held for over four months by the DSS in violation of two court orders.
Their release came as domestic and global outrage against the Federal Government’s acts of disregard to rule of law escalated with the invasion of the Federal High Court in Abuja by operatives of the DSS to re-arrest Sowore on December 6, 2019.
As he had previously stated, Malami insisted in his latest television appearance last Thursday that they were released out of compassion because the government, having appealed against the court orders granting them bail, had the option of detaining them until the matter was finally disposed of by the Supreme Court.
Responding, Falana who argued that the Federal Government lacked the power to continue to detain suspects after being granted bail by the court, also pointed out the Federal Government never appealed against the court orders with respect to Sowore and Dasuki.
Falana stated, “Since the release of Sowore and Dasuki from illegal custody on December 24, 2019, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami (SAN), has put himself under undue pressure.
“In the process, he has embarrassed the Executive and exposed the judiciary to ridicule.
“After announcing that he had directed the DSS to release Sowore and Dasuki from custody in compliance with the court orders that had granted them bail, the Justice minister turned round to say that the release was an act of compassion and mercy on the part of the Executive.
“I am compelled to challenge the claim of the Justice minister as he lacks the power to release any person standing trial on compassionate grounds by virtue of section 175 of the constitution.
“After he had rightly abandoned that dangerous legal route, the Justice minister has since asserted that the Federal Government was right to have detained Sowore and Dasuki in defiance of the court orders which had admitted them to bail.
“In support of the outlandish contention, the Justice minister said the Federal Government was not bound to obey the court orders until the final determination of the appeals filed against the court orders.”
Falana quoted Malami as saying in an interview aired on NTA last Thursday that, “There were appeals (sic) for stay of execution all through. So, until those matters reach the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court takes the final decision relating there, you are still operating within the ambit and context of rule of law.”
Responding to the minister’s interview, Falana said, “The minister’s statement is factually and legally erroneous in every material particular.
“If the Justice minister has had time to review Sowore’s case file which he had withdrawn from the DSS he would have confirmed that no appeal was filed against the two decisions of the federal high court which admitted him and his co-defendant, Mr Olawale Bakare, to bail.”
