The court of appeal sitting in Abuja has ordered the Federal Government to release former National Security Adviser, NSA, Sambo Dasuki from detention.
The order followed a review of Dasuki’s bail conditions.
According to reports, the court in a certified true copy, CTC, of a judgement dated July 10, 2019, granted the former NSA bail in the sum of N100m.
Recall that the former NSA has been in detention since 2015 for allegedly diverting funds meant to tackle insurgency, an allegation he however denied.
In 2018, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu of a Federal High Court, Abuja, granted him bail in the of N200m with two sureties whom she said must either be civil servants of grade level 16 in the federal civil service or private citizens who have landed properties in the municipal areas of Abuja.
However, in its July 10 ruling, the Court of Appeal reduced the bail to N100m adding that his sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court.
The court also awarded N5m damages against the respondents for unlawful arrest.
The judgement read: “Each of the sureties shall furnish evidence of ownership of property in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, worth N100, 000.00.”
“Where there is need for any interview with the Applicant by the Respondents in respect of those allegations, the Appellant shall not be detained and such interview shall be conducted on working days only, between 9.00 hours to 18.00 hours.
“The International passport of Applicant shall remain with the Deputy Chief Registrar of the court below for the time being.
“When those conditions are complied with, the Chief Registrar or Deputy Chief Registrar of the court below shall notify the respondents to that effect and the Applicant shall be released forthwith from custody of respondents.
“The Appellant shall he paid the sum of five million naira (5,000,000.00) compensation by the respondents for his unlawful arrest and detention in consonance with section 35(6) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended).”
The suit marked CA/A/806/2018 has the director-general of Department of State Services, DSS, and attorney-general of the federation, AGF, as respondents.
