A Federal Excessive Courtroom in Abuja has fined the Ministry of International Affairs N5m for the illegal arrest and detention of an Abuja-based business driver, Sanusi Shuaib.
The court docket additionally ordered the DSS to right away launch the driving force, who had been detained since March 2023.
The detained driver, by means of his lawyer, Bala Dakum, had taken the DSS to court docket to problem his detention with out trial since his arrest.
Dakum claimed that upon his consumer's arrest, the DSS accused him of possessing firearms for suspected terrorists and has been in DSS custody ever since.
The lawyer, nonetheless, prayed for his launch and compensation of N50 million for the illegal detention.
Decide Mobolaji Olajuwon dominated on the case on Thursday, ruling that the DSS blatantly ignored Part 35 of the nation's structure, which prohibited the detention of Nigerians past a most interval of 48 hours with no court docket order.
Olajuwon stated the DSS obtained an order from the Federal Excessive Courtroom on March 29, 2023, to detain and detain the driving force for under 20 days to research and summon him to court docket if he was charged with legal instances.
She famous that the DSS had not submitted to the court docket an software for an extension of the 20-day detention interval or charged him with any legal offence.
Olajuwon stated any detention past 20 days was illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and void.
She famous that the applicant's basic rights to freedom of motion had been violated by the DSS.
The choose criticized the DSS's declare that it had been given six months to detain the driving force, including that the court docket solely allowed 20 days.
Justice Olajuwon additionally disagreed with the DSS that the detainee had been transferred to the Navy Detention Facility in Niger State for trial for terrorist offences, including that no proof to that impact had been submitted to the court docket.
The choose additionally denounced the safety service's declare that the Lawyer Normal of the Federation and the Minister of Justice had authorised the trial of the driving force.
Justice Olajuwon, who quoted the AGF letter, stated the AGF workplace solely really helpful {that a} recent investigation be carried out into the allegations towards the driving force, which was by no means completed.
The choose subsequently quashed the driving force's arrest and ordered his speedy launch from DSS custody.
