Femi Falana, a human rights advocate and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has requested that the Federal Government order the release of Abdulrasheed Bawa, the former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), from the Department of State Services’ (DSS) custody.
According to the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), a remand order has a cumulative lifespan of 56 days, according to Falana, who stated that the remand order against Bawa has already expired. Because the detention period allowed by the Act and the Nigerian Constitution has been surpassed, DSS should be instructed to release Bawa from unlawful custody as soon as possible.
Even though Godwin Emefiele and Bawa, the former Central Bank of Nigeria Governor and Director of Public Prosecution at the Federal Ministry of Justice, had a history of disobeying court orders while in office, he claimed that the Federal Government should make sure that their rights are respected.
“All public officials in Nigeria who consistently act as if there will be no tomorrow should learn a lesson from the ordeal of the two accused. The government, which is governed by law, is obligated by law to respect citizens’ fundamental rights only as permitted by the Constitution, he continued.
Falana emphasised that he had earlier sought Emefiele and Bawa’s immediate release and added, “I requested the Federal Government to put the two arrested suspects before a court of competent jurisdiction, if there was evidence they had committed criminal offences.
It is widely known that Emefiele recently faced a charge of illegal firearm possession before the Federal High Court’s Lagos Judicial Division. Despite the fact that the court had granted him bail, the DSS violated the ruling.
The Federal Government decided to drop the accusation of illegal possession of firearms since the violent invasion of the court along with the DSS officers’ defiance of the court’s order could not be justified. Emefiele was charged with several economic offences at the Abuja Judicial Division of the Federal High Court, and as a result, the matter was dismissed by the court.
“The DSS ought to have released Bawa from jail because he has not been charged with any criminal offence whatsoever,” he continued. The assertion that Bawa is being held on the basis of a remand order obtained by a magistrate court in the Federal Capital Territory is one that is familiar to me.
It should be noted that the remand order is no longer valid and legal because no magistrate is permitted by Section 35 of the Nigerian Constitution or Section 493 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, to approve the detention of a criminal suspect for 67 days without trial.
