Abdulrasheed Bawa, the immediately-preceding Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is still being held by the Department of State Services (DSS) 124 days after his detention.
recalls that Bawa was fired in June, then detained and held in the DSS’s custody.
The Federal Government has been urged to either charge him in accordance with the Constitution or release him.
Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN), a human rights attorney, urged the SSS to charge Bawa or release him in response to his ongoing imprisonment.
According to Ozekhome, who spoke to The Nation, given the accusations made against Bawa by the government, charges should have been filed against him under the law.
He remarked, “I thought Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, provided for only one day (24 hours) of detention when a court of competent jurisdiction is within a radius of 40 kilometers from the police station; and where there is no court within a radius of 40 kilometers from the station, 48 hours; or any longer period which the court considers reasonable given the particular circumstances of the case.
“The DSS claimed ‘weighty allegations of abuse of office leveled against him’ as the cause for Bawa’s continued detention through its Director of Information, Willie Bassey.
“To put it mildly, this ongoing incarceration without charge or trial is brutal, abhorrent, and morally repugnant. Are we still in the Australopithecus age of early cavemen? I have no idea. Do you, or?
“To date, the DSS has not disclosed to Nigerians the nature or scope of the ‘probe’ into Bawa’s specific offenses, if any.
“Can illegality give rise to legality, even though he broke several laws? Can one wrong make up for another? Can the DSS continue to act as a judge, an investigator, an accuser, an arrestee, a detainee, and a prosecutor? What’s happening here?
The last time I looked, order prevailed even among the insane. DSS, release Bawa right away for the sake of God, human decency, and our legally enshrined democracy.
The former EFCC chief may have been imprisoned in accordance with ex-parte court orders obtained on the grounds that the investigation is ongoing, according to Dayo Akinlaja, another Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
Despite this, Bawa’s ongoing detention, according to Akinlapa, violated the Constitution’s spirit.
“There is no disputing the fact that any long detention without arraignment in court is against the spirit of the constitution,” the SAN was cited as saying in a report.
