The Federal Government on Tuesday ordered the release of former Nigeria National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), and former presidential candidate and publisher of of an influential online news online Sahara Reporters, Omoyole Sowore, from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS) after over four years in detention.
Dasuki was released by the DSS on Tuesday in Abuja, following the directives of the Federal Government.
There had been growing local and international agitations for their release, as the government’s refusal to release them despite several court orders have increasingly highlighted its tendency to authoritarianism.
Nigeria’s justice minister and attorney general of the federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami earlier in the day ordered Dasuki’s release alongside Sahara Reporters publisher Omoyele Sowore.
“I have directed the State Security Services (DSS) to comply with the order granting bail to the Defendants and effect their release,” Malami said in a statement.
Malami said the decision to release them was in compliance with the bail granted to both Dasuki and Sowore by the different courts.
Dasuki, who served as national security adviser under former President Goodluck Jonathan, had been in detention for over four years despite four court orders, including an ECOWAS court granting him bail since June 2015.
He is facing trial for alleged misappropriation of N19.4 billion arms funds while in government.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja in July 2019 declared that the continued detention of Dasuki by the DSS was illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional.
The former NSA’s lawyer Ahmed Raji confirmed his release Tuesday evening.
The statement overrides the Department of State Security (DSS)’s decision to ignore court orders for release on bail of the two. Dasuki has been held in detention since 2015 while Sowore has been held since Aug. 3, 2019. Two courts have previously ordered the release of the two on bail without DSS complying with the order.
The attorney-general made it clear the two defendants are not free from the charges against them. “The two defendants are enjoined to observe the terms of their bail and refrain from engaging in any act that is inimical to public peace and national security as well as their ongoing trial which will run its course in accordance with the laws of the land.”
Sowore, for instance, will not be able to return to his family in New Jersey for Christmas because the terms of his bail restricted him to Abuja.
In his first public statement as he emerged from DSS detention, Sowore said to the media: “The only thing is to thank Nigerians; they made this happen; they should not relent,” he said. “Nobody can take a people who are determined for granted.”
While Sowore has been in detention since August, it was his dramatic forcible re-arrest earlier this month in an Abuja court less than 24 hours after being released on bail that drew international attention and heavy criticism at home and abroad for the Nigerian government. Sowore, who ran for presidential office against president Buhari in February has been accused of attempting to organize a revolution against the government.
Just last week, US Senators Robert Menendez, Charles Schumer, Christopher Coons, Cory A. Booker and US House of Representatives Bill Pascrell and Josh Gottheimer, sent a letter to Nigeria’s Attorney General of Nigeria. In the letter they reminded Malami Nigeria risked losing its standing as a leading democracy in Africa, its close relationship with the United States and have its name tarnished if the government continued to ignore court order to release Sowore.
Nigeria’s decision to order their release on bail soon after he took over the case is an indication that there is an opening for a political resolution of the issue. In the meantime there is little relief for the friends and families of Dasuki who will be able to celebrate the holidays with him for the first time since 2015. As for Sowore, a video chat with his wife and children in New Jersey may do for now.
An editorial a powerful national newspaper The PUNCH had brought the government’s drift towards autocracy to the front burners and helped to stoke the fire of agitations for the release of persons whom court had ordered their release.
The Rainbow with online reports
