3 Men Sue DSS Over Illegal Detention In Adamawa

Three men– Zira John, Solomon Abafras and Yusuf Mohammed, have dragged the Department of State Security Service before the Adamawa State High Court over illegal detention for 7 days without trial.

The 3 men on 20th April 2023, filed separate applications asking Hon. Justice Christopher Dominic Mapeo, to admit them to bail.

The matter was supposed to come up in court on Tuesday, 25th April, 2023 for hearing, but due to their inability to serve the court process on the DSS, it could not hold.

The sitting was therefore adjourned till April  27th, 2023, to enable the counsels to the applicants to serve the DSS. 

Chief L. D. Nzadon, lead Counsel for the applicants in the Fundamental Human Rights Cases, while speaking to press men shortly after the court sitting, expressed his concerns over 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.

According to Nzadon, the DSS does not have the right to keep them beyond the time the constitution stipulates.

He explained that “every Nigerian has a fundamental human right not to be kept in police custody for 48 hours.

“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.”

Nzadon further noted 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.

However, the department refused to accept it on the grounds that Friday was declared a 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 is supposed to work in accordance with the rule of law.

He said 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.

It was gathered that the applicants were apprehended for allegedly assaulting an officer of the department on the 16th April, 2023.

This was after the Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC illegally announced the APC candidate, Aishatu Dahiru Binani, winner of the governorship election.

Further allegations were that the REC, Barr Yunusa Hudu Ari, collected the sum of N2 billion to rig the election in favour of the defeated APC candidate.

One Hon Micheal Okopi broke the story of the arrest when he posted on Facebook last week that the three men were abducted by some gun men.

When contacted by THE WHISTLER later, Okopi later clarified his post saying: “Not gun men, it’s DSS. The issue is on the progress. Maybe on Tuesday they will be released.”