Abdulrasheed Bawa, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has been held by the Department of State Services (DSS) for 67 days without being charged or facing a trial. A human rights attorney from Lagos, Femi Falana (SAN), has launched a campaign to secure Bawa’s release.
He claimed that Bawa’s remand order had expired in a statement he made today, August 20.
He claims that Bawa’s incarceration is in violation of section 35 of the Nigerian Constitution as well as section 493 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, both of which permit the detention of a criminal suspect for 67 days without a trial.
A remand order has a 56-day maximum cumulative life span under the Act.
He said: “At some point last month, I had cause to seek the immediate release from the custody of the State Security Service of Mr. Godwin Emefiele, the suspended Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, and Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, the suspended Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.If there was proof that the two arrested suspects had committed criminal acts, I suggested that the Federal Government charge them before a court of competent jurisdiction as an alternative.
