Falana made the clarifications in a statement issued in Lagos on Sunday in reaction to claims by the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami that the recent release of Omoyele Sowore and former National Security Adviser , Col. Sambo Dasuki was an act of compassion and mercy on the part of the executive.
“After he had rightly abandoned that dangerous legal route, the Justice Minister has since asserted that the federal government was right to have detained the Sowore and Dasuki in defiance of the court orders which had admitted them to bail. Until that matter, that your right of challenge, is determined up to the supreme court level, the idea of you being charged with disobedience of court order does not arise.
As defence counsel we rejected the illegal request to produce the sureties before the Director General of of State Security Service until the Honourable Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu gave him a 24-hour ultimatum to release the duo from illegal custody”. “Apparently frustrated with the contemptuous conduct of the federal government Dasuki approached the Ecowas Court for redress.
“However, in doing so, states must respect all International obligations with regard to due process and respect for fundamental rights of the suspects. Failure to do so will impute responsibility to the state regarding such violations of rights while leaving intact their right to prosecute and punish offences against their criminal laws.
He also noted that the federal government did not file any appeal against any of the orders of the high courts which had admitted Sowore and Dasuki to bail adding that no motion was ever filed for stay of execution of any of the court orders. “A couple of weeks ago, I had reminded the Justice Minister of the fact that as a military dictator, Major-General Muhammadu Buhari had complied with court orders by releasing 13 political detainees from the illegal custody of the notorious National Security Organization based on the legal advice of his Attorney General, the Late Chief Chike Offodile .
Therefore, if the court orders issued in favour of the opponents of military dictators were respected under the defunct military regime it is unacceptable for a democratically elected government which operates under the rule of law to ignore the orders of municipal and regional courts for the release of political detainees and criminal suspects from illegal custody”.
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