• DSS continues to hold detainees 11 months after court ordered their arraignment, he says
By Abubakar Yakubu
•DSS operatives screening lawyers during a recent trial of Nnamdi Kanu in Abuja
For Pius I. Awoke, Fortune Okezie, Chinedu Nwoba, Chinonso Onyeibe, Eze Joseph, David Ogbonnaya, Ajah Joseph, Igwe Johson, Kennneth Ojima and Wisdom Ezika Nwambana, embarking on a journey to Abuja from Ebonyi State on July 2021 to witness the trial of Nnamdi Kanu has led to their detention for 34 months in Abuja, allegedly by the Department of State Security Services (DSS).
Their lawyer, Nnaemeka Ejiofor said he had gone to court to fight for their fundamental human rights and got a ruling from the Federal High Court in Abuja on June 14, 2023 ordering the DSS to within one month of the judgment date arraign the suspects in a competent court.
Ejiofor lamented that up till date, the DSS has defied the court order, which has put the families of the detainees in serious financial difficulties.
Narrating his experience on the day of their arrest, Kingsley Onovo, the driver of a Toyota Sienna vehicle carrying the suspects back to Ebonyi State on July 26, 2021, in an affidavit deposed to the Federal High Court in Abuja, told the court that while he was taking some passengers including the suspects, from Abuja to Ebonyi State, that on getting to the Murtala Muhammed Bridge in Kogi State, they were stopped by naval officers who informed them that two Sienna vehicles were being chased from Abuja. He said the officers further informed them that they were ordered to park all Sienna vehicles pending the arrival of the security personnel from Abuja.
He said they were detained for more than five hours before the DSS officers arrived from Abuja and took all of them back to Abuja and dumped them in a detention facility, after seriously beating them at the bridge.
The driver disclosed that the driver of the second vehicle and himself were later released in August 2021.
Counsel to the suspects, Nnaemeka Ejiofor told the court that both him and the Nigerian Bar Association, Bwari Branch, wrote several letters to the DSS to grant them access to the detainees or secure their bail, but lamented that they were frustrated. He said the suspects were not informed of the offence they committed and were later transferred to a military detention facility by the DSS on September 29, 2001.
The lawyer lamented that the detainees have suffered and continued to suffer monumental damages, hardship and exposure to public ridicule on account of their illegal as well as unlawful detention.
He said they are entitled to be released unconditionally in addition to being paid compensation damages.
Ejiofor in his written address to the court, sought to know whether the applicants’ fundamental rights have been violated by the DSS and if the answer is in the affirmative, whether they are entitled to damages and public apology.
In response to the detainees’ originating motion, Ahmed Magaji, a State Security Service personnel, agreed that the applicants were arrested at Murtala Muhammed Bridge in Kogi State on July 26, 2021 by the service tactical team upon reasonable suspicion of their involvement in the activities of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He accused the applicants of being members of IPOB and the Eastern Security Network (ESN) operating in the South Eastern States of Nigeria.
According to him, the applicants were arrested based on credible intelligence of a failed attempt to disrupt the trial of Nnamdi Kanu, a leader of IPOB group before the court in Abuja.
The DSS counsel later informed the court that investigation into the matter could not be concluded within the stipulated time, hence the DSS approached the court for an order to detain the applicants pending the conclusion of investigation.
He said the applicants were promptly transferred to Wawa Military facility in Kanji, Niger State for prosecution in line with the directive of the National Security Adviser.
In his ruling, Justice A. R. Mohammed said the applicants were arrested and subsequently detained upon reasonable suspicion of having been involved in the terrorist activities of IPOB, ESN and the failed attempt to disrupt the trial of the IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu before the court.
The judge also ruled that the applicants were not tortured or dehumanized and that the DSS applied for the court order to further detain the applicants even as the investigation was not concluded.
The court held that the DSS has established before it that the applicants belonged to the proscribed IPOB and ESN operating in the South Eastern States of Nigeria which was not denied by the applicants.
“I am of the firm opinion that the arrest and detention of the applicants are necessary before being arraigned before a court of competent jurisdiction in order to prevent them from committing a criminal offence,” the judge added.
The judge then ordered the DSS to arraign the applicants before a competent court within one month from the date of judgment (June 14, 2023).
Unfortunately, nearly 12 months after the order was given by Justice A.R. Mohammed, the DSS has yet to obey the Federal High Court’s ruling as the applicants have not being arraigned before a competent court,.
Lawyer to the applicants, Ejiofor told Saturday Sun that the relations of the applicants have instructed his chamber to challenge the ruling through an appeal. He lamented that up till now, the DSS has failed to comply with the court order to arraign the applicants before a competent court, 34 months after their arrest.
