Detained cleric asks court to jail DSS DG

Director-General, Department of State Security, Lawal Daura,

A human rights lawyer, Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, said he has commenced contempt proceedings against the Director General of the Department of State Services, Lawal Daura, over the continued detention of an Islamic cleric, Abdul-Ganiy Ibrahim, in spite of a court order.

The cleric, his then pregnant wife, Muinat, had, on July 5, 2014, been reportedly whisked away from their Ijoko, Ogun State home by unidentified gunmen, but they were later traced to the DSS station in Abeokuta, from where Muinat was released while Ibrahim continued to be detained.

Adetola-Kazeem had approached a Federal High Court in Abeokuta to challenge the arrest and continued detention of the cleric by the DSS without disclosing his alleged offence or charging him to court.

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He had urged the court to declare that the continued detention of Ibrahim for over four months, outside the period covered by the detention warrant by the DSS, from July 7 to September 17, 2014, was an infringement of Ibrahim’s right to dignity of person, personal liberty and freedom of movement guaranteed by sections 34, 35 and 41 of the constitution.

In its ruling on June 18, 2015, the court, presided over by Justice F.O.G. Ogunbanjo, upheld the lawyer’s argument and declared that the continued detention of Ibrahim by the DSS without charging him or arraigning him before a court of competent jurisdiction was a violation of his fundamental human rights.

The judge also declared that the continued detention of the cleric by the DSS without informing him of the offence for which he was being held and without allowing him access to his lawyer, was a breach of Section 36 of the constitution.

Apart from ordering his immediate release, the judge held that Ibrahim was entitled to public apology from the DSS, in addition to compensation for damages in the sum of N1m.

“The 1st applicant is entitled to the grant of general damages in accordance with Section 36 (5) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999,(as amended) for the abuse of his fundamental rights by the respondents’ unlawful detention and this court accordingly awards the sum of N1m to be paid by the respondents to the 1st applicant.

“The court having found that the continued detention of the 1st applicant is unlawful, the 1st applicant is entitled to public apology from the appropriate authority or person by virtue of Section 35 (6) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999,(as amended). I therefore order the respondents to comply with Section 35 (6) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999,(as amended) and tender a public apology to the applicant,” the judge had held, in his ruling in suit numbered FHC/AB/CS/84/2014 filed by Adetola-Kazeem.

But the lawyer said all efforts to get the DSS and its DG, joined as the first and second respondents in the suit, to comply had been unproductive.

He added that his efforts to set eyes on Ibrahim had also not yielded any result, particularly expressing worry over the inability of DSS operatives to tell where exactly Ibrahim was being kept.

“None of them has given me any positive response. They are not even sure where he is. Those in Abeokuta said he is in Abuja; those in Abuja said he is in Lagos. Anytime you ask them, they would say give us his name and also send his picture, so that we can ascertain if he’s with us because there a lot of them there,” Adetola-Kazeem had lamented while speaking with our corresponding early July.

But he said that the court order had been served on the DSS authorities, accompanied with a letter June 25, 2015 addressed to the DG of DSS.

In the said letter, the lawyer urged the DSS to obey the order of the court so as to save the image of the organisation from being battered.

“Be it noted that your organisation participated in this case from start to finish. You were represented by Mrs. Aisha Gyang, all through the case up until the ruling on June 18, 2015,” the lawyer said in the letter.

However, speaking with our correspondent on Sunday, Adetola-Kazeem said he had now commenced contempt proceedings against the respondents for failing to obey the court order.