TheCable

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) has demanded the immediate release of Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser, and Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.

The NBA urged the federal government to respect the court orders which granted bail to both men.

Dasuki and El-Zakzaky have been in the custody of the Department of State Services since December 2015 and 2014 respectively.

Abubakar Mahmoud, NBA president, also called for the immediate termination of the investigation of some judges.

He said the judges should be allowed to resume their judicial functions since charges were yet to be filed against them several months after investigations commenced.

“The NBA wishes to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Government to continually demonstrate religious adherence to the tenets of constitutional democracy. In this regard, the NBA is appalled at the continued detention of certain individuals in blatant disobedience to court orders,” he said.

“Amongst these individuals are Sheik Ibrahim Al-Zakzaky and his wife and also Colonel Sambo Dasuki, the former National Security Adviser.

“Whilst we recognise the serious charges on which these individuals are held, we nevertheless view their continued detention as unjustified and contrary to the express court orders. We call on the government to, without further delay, respect these orders.

“In the same vein, in the wake of the arrest and detention of certain judicial officers by the DSS, the NBA had taken the view that the judges affected should recuse themselves from judicial functions until the investigations and outcome of those investigations were determined, we note that nearly eight months after those investigations were launched, there are some of the judges, who have not been prosecuted or charged before any court of law.

“This situation is completely unsatisfactory and unacceptable. The NBA calls on the government to terminate the investigations against those judges to enable them to resume their work as judicial officials.”

The NBA president further noted that the anti-corruption framework of the federal government “is defective in structure and does not make for effectiveness” of anti-graft agencies.