Three Adamawa State Citizens have dragged the Department of State Security Service before the State High Court, alleging illegal detention by the department for 7 days without trial.
The affected persons including Zira John, Solomon Abafras and Yusuf Mohammed, filed separate applications dated 20th April, 2023, and asked Hon. Justice Christopher Dominic Mapeo, to admit them to bail.
Initially, the court had fixed Tuesday, the 25th April, 2023 for hearing, but the case could not be heard for failure to serve the court process on the DSS.
It is against this background that the court however adjourned the matter to the 27th April, 2023 so as to enable counsels to the applicants effect service on the agency.
Fielding questions from newsmen shortly after the court sitting, Lead Counsel for the Applicants in the Fundamental Human Rights Cases, Chief L. D. Nzadon, noted with concern the continued detention of the applicants.
He lamented that the applicants have been in detention since Wednesday last week, alleging that their detention was a violation of their fundamental human rights.
Chief Nzadon, said that the DSS does to have the right to keep them beyond the time the constitution stipulates, explaining that every Nigerian has a fundamental human right not to be kept in police custody for 48 hours.
He said that the applicants should be released so that if the DSS so desire can proceed with the case against them but not to be kept in custody.
On the case before the court, Chief Nzadon, said that they came to hear the case; however, their effort to serve the process on the DSS on Friday last week failed.
He explained that an interim order was taken to the DSS for the release of the applicants, but the department refused to accept it on grounds that Friday, was declared public holiday, and that they will not accept service on that fateful day.
According to him, DSS as an organisation is an agency of the State and supposed to work in accordance with the rule of law, lamenting that for the DSS to threaten a lawyer that they will break his leg merely because he took the process to them is unacceptable.
"We are not making an issue for now but should that continue, they will hear from us definitely". He stated.
NEWS PLATFORM learnt that the applicants were apprehended in connection to an assault on the officer of the department on the 16th April, 2023.
No comments:
Post a Comment