Dasuki Is A Threat To National Security, FG Tells ECOWAS Court

Dasuki Is A Threat To National Security, FG Tells ECOWAS Court

Adeboye   20:14:00   No comments:

The Federal Government on Thursday told the Economic Community of West African States that it would be dangerous to release the immediate National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), from custody because he constituted a threat to national security.

Dasuki was re-arrested on December 29, 2015 by the operatives of the Department of State Service shortly after he was released on bail from ‎Kuje Prisons, Abuja, with respect to his ongoing trial on three separate sets of charges.

The Federal Government on Thursday called two witnesses ‎to oppose a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed before the ECOWAS Court by Dasuki seeking his release from the custody of the DSS.

Through its ‎witnesses and its lawyer, Mr. T. D Kabiru, who led the witnesses in evidence, the Federal Government said on Thursday that Dasuki was being held because he constituted threat to national security.

It added that the ex-NSA was also being held owing to his involvement in the over $2bn arms funds scam.

It also said given his pivotal role in the $2bn scam and the calibre of top politicians that had been fingered in the alleged fraud, Dasuki was also being kept in custody for his own safety.

It said with the quantum of arms and ammunition alleged to be illegally kept in the ex-NSA’s home in Abuja and recovered by security operatives, there was the general apprehension that he possessed more, which the state had yet to discover.

It argued the Dasuki’s detention was justified based on the intelligence and security report in the disposal of the nation’s security agencies, and that national security superseded individual’s security.

‎ The lawyer said, “The position of the defence, which is not controverted by the applicant, is that the arms and ammunition recovered during the search (at Dasuki’s home) are not the only arms and ammunition in the possession of the applicant.

“There is fear that he has more.

“There is intelligence report that some are yet to be recovered. That we fear he has more is a ground to hold him. There are ongoing investigations which are revealing fresh facts concerning him.

“The right of an individual cannot supersede the security of a country when there is intelligence report to suspect the conduct of the individual.”

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SERAP Sues FG At ECOWAS Court Over Herdsmen Killings

SERAP Sues FG At ECOWAS Court Over Herdsmen Killings

Adeboye   16:50:00   No comments:

The Registered Trustees of the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project have urged the Economic Community of West African States Court in Abuja to hold the Federal Government responsible for various violent incidents across the country leading to loss of property and human lives.

The plaintiffs accused the Federal Government of permitting human rights violations in form of killings, raping and maiming of citizens by violent herdsmen, military and police operatives because the Federal Government allegedly failed to address the situation.

The plaintiffs’ counsel, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who reportedly filed the suit marked ECW/CCJ/APP/15/16 on behalf of his client on Tuesday, alleged that the Federal Government had failed to prevent,investigate and prosecute perpetrators of human rights abuses including violent herdsmen and brutal police and military operatives.

Falana claimed that the alleged failure of the Federal Government to do due diligence in preventing, investigating and prosecution cases of rights abuses had occasioned a breach of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

According to Falana, the alleged failure of the Federal Government had also occasioned a breach of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

For these breaches, the plaintiffs are urging the ECOWAS Court to make an order compelling the Federal Government to wake up to its responsibilities and fulfill its obligation of securing the lives and property of its citizens.

The plaintiffs also want the ECOWAS Court to compel the Federal Government to pay N50m compensation to the dependants of each of the victims of violent killings by violent herdsmen and brutal police and military operatives.

They are also urging the ECOWAS Court to order the Federal Government to undertake measures that will forestall future recurrence of unlawful killings by herdsmen, police and military operative.

In the affidavit filed in support of the suit, the plaintiffs argued that the Federal Government ought to have known that there were immediate threat and should have taken preventive measures, which it allegedly failed to take, in all those cases of violent and unlawful killings by herdsmen, police and military operatives.

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