Justice Mohammed Yunusa of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday ordered the immediate release of five detained All Progressives Congress (APC) workers.

He restrained the Department of State Security Services (DSS) from further arresting Chinedu Atuche, Fayemi Olaposi, Chika Augustine Onochukwu, Ebun Ilori and Esther

Enemuwe who had been held since the DSS raided the party’s data centre on November 22.

The court had also ordered that the DSS should unseal the data office/warehouse located at 10, Bola Ajibola Street, off Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos, forthwith.

But APC’s lawyer, Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN), said the DSS was yet to obey the order.

The agency’s counsel, Clifford Osagie, said it was not true that the place was still under DSS seal.

Justice Yunusa held that the defendants had been detained beyond the two days allowed in law.

He said the DSS did so without a valid warrant. Besides, the matter before him was a fundamental rights enforcement suit, and not a criminal case, he added.

Therefore, the applicants cannot be arrested and detained, while the DSS conducted its investigations, he held.

The judge also faulted the detention warrant on which basis DSS claimed to be acting, saying it was obtained outside jurisdiction and therefore is illegal.

“No enforcement agency has the power to arrest without a warrant,” he said, adding that Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution provides that any person arrested on the suspicion of any crime must be brought to court within a reasonable time.

He said even if the remand order was genuine, it cannot be the basis for detaining the applicants endlessly.

“A remand order is not issued indefinitely,” he said, adding that the DSS should have applied to a High Court within jurisdiction for a “review” of the remand order.
“There is no indication that the respondents have filed an application seeking a review of the remand order.”

He said the remand order exhibited by DSS “has exceeded the reasonable time in the Constitution,” and that “every person has a right to his or her liberty.”

The judge said it is not allowed in law to arrest and keep a person in detention while an investigation is ongoing.

“The arrest and detention of a person with a view to getting information is a violation of Section 35 of the Constitution which provides that such a person shall be brought promptly before a court,” he held.

To him, the applicants were not brought to court within a reasonable time and therefore deserve to enjoy their freedom.

The judge, therefore, ordered the APC workers’ immediate release from detention, but directed them not to travel out of the country without the court’s permission.

Justice Yunusa retrained the DSS and the police from further arresting and detaining the applicants until their motion on notice is heard and determined.

“The point should be clear that there is no criminal matter before me,” the judge added after the bench ruling.

Before the ruling, Osinbajo said the DSS did not only detain the workers, it denied them access to their relatives even when there was no criminal charge against them.

He said even if there was a charge, it is still no basis to justify the applicants’ detention for more than a week.

“The continued violation of their rights should not be allowed to continue,” Osinbajo prayed.

http://thenationonlineng.net/new/court-orders-release-detained-apc-workers/

They ain't got nothing on em. It's only wise to release em!!!

God bless you judge for been truthful.

I know dem go don try bribe am
Corrupt homosapien

MOD, front page nah

......and the reign of impunity under GEJ continues.....


.......it's a taste of what's to come under GEJ's second term...