I Was Arrested for Granting Bail to Dasuki & Nnamdi Kanu - Justice Ademola Talks on DSS Raid to His Home

A shocking revelation has been made public in a letter obtained by newsmen of the reason behind the Department of State Security Service's house raid and arrest of a prominent justice of the federal high court.

Justice Ademola & Dasuki in court

 

Adeniyi Ademola, a judge of the federal high court Abuja, says he was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) because he granted Sambo Dasuki bail and freed Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) leader.

 

Last weekend, some judges’ homes were raided by the DSS on allegations of corruption.

 

But in a letter dated October 11, addressed to Mahmoud Mohammed, chief justice of Nigeria (CJN), Ademola said he was held for over 24 hours before he was told the reason why he was brought to the DSS office.

 

“…Upon signing the document, they told me that I am under arrest and ordered me with guns still pointed at me to move outside. As I was going, they told me they were taking me to their office, Department of State Services (DSS) office, without showing any warrant of arrest,” the letter read.

“I obeyed them and about six o’clock in the morning, I was whisked away from my residence to the DSS office without any warrant of arrest or reason for my arrest.

“From the time of my arrival at the DSS office, at about 6:45am on 8/10/2016, I was not told what my crime was for over 24 hours till the evening of 9/10/2016.

“A DSS officially finally informed me that the search of my arrest were based on these three allegations; petition of Hon. Jenkins Duvie dated 4th of April 2016 to the National Judicial Council (NJC); granting bail to Col. Sambo Dasuki and the unconditional release of Nnamdi Kanu; and using my office to secure my wife’s appointment as the head of civil service state through Senator Bola Tinubu.”

 

Ademola said he saw his arrest as revenge from Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), whose arrest and detention he ordered over a professional misconduct while he was judge in Kano between 2004 and 2008.

 

“What is more intriguing in this whole episode, is that I see it as a vendetta/revenge from the Hon. attorney general of the federation, Abubakar Malami, whilst I was in Kano between 2004 and 2007 as a federal high court judge was involved in a professional misconduct necessitating his arrest and detention by my order,” he said.

“However, with the intervention of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Kano branch the allegation of misconduct was later withdrawn by me.”

Read More

ECOWAS Court Orders Dasuki's Release, Slams N15m On FG

The Court of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, on Tuesday declared the arrest and detention of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, as unlawful and arbitrary.

The court also held that the further arrest of Mr. Dasuki by government on November 4, after he was granted bail by a court of law, amounts to a mockery of democracy and the rule of law.

Mr. Dasuki is facing multiple trials for alleged diversion of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms in the immediate past administration.

He is also accused of illegal possession of fire arms.

He approached the ECOWAS court after he was rearrested by members of Nigeria’s State Security Service shortly after meeting his bail conditions in November last year.

He has remained in the custody of the SSS since his arrest.

On Tuesday, a three-member panel led by Justice Friday Nwoke said Nigeria’s government was wrong in arresting Mr. Dasuki without a search warrant, adding that the pattern of arrest negates the provisions of Section 28 of the Nigerian Police Act.

According to the said section, a superior police officer may authorise the search of a resident belonging to a suspect assumed to be in illegal possession of an item, if the officer so authorised has a search warrant.

The court also noted that Section 143 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, allows that where such a search is proposed by the police or other authorities, an application must first be made to a court of law and and granted after due consideration of the said application, in compliance with section 144 of the ACJA.

The court further said the submission of Nigerian government that it came with the search warrant to Mr. Dasuki’s house but could not give it to him, because officers at his residence resisted the security operatives, was ineffective in proving its points.

According to the judge, the search warrant presented before the ECOWAS court was not certified and therefore lacks verifiable authenticity.

The court said government failed to prove its reasons for arresting and detaining Mr. Dasuki, as documents presented before it only emphasised the allegations of fraud and illegal possession of arms.

It added that the ECOWAS court was not set to determine whether or not the possession of arms by
Mr. Dasuki amounted to an offence or not.

It however decided that the arrest was unlawful, arbitrary and a violation of local and international rights to liberty.

The court ruled that Federal Government should pay a sum of N15 million as damages to Mr. Dasuki.
It also decided that the cost of litigation will be summed up and charged against the Nigerian government.

Read More