Former National Security Adviser, NSA, under President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), yesterday, dragged the Federal Government before the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, insisting that his life is in danger. Dasuki, who approached the court through his legal team led by Mr. Ahmed Raji, SAN, said he has been kept under house arrest by armed operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, since November 3.
He lamented that the DSS operatives laid siege to his house and prevented him from travelling abroad for medical treatment despite a subsisting court order that permitted him to go and take care of his budding cancer and return to the country within three weeks to continue his trial.
Dasuki, in a fundamental right enforcement application he filed against the Federal Government, yesterday, pleaded the high court to uphold his rights to dignity and security of life. He further prayed the court to issue a mandatory order compelling the Federal Government and its agents, especially the operatives of the DSS, to vacate his house located at 13, John Kadija Street, Asokoro with immediate effect.
His application was predicated on sections 36(5) 37 and 41 of the 1999 constitution, as amended, as well as on sections 1(1) and (2) and 266 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015. The former NSA equally sought an order of the court extending the leave that was initially granted to him by Justice Ademola Adeniyi on November 3. Justice Adeniyi had in his ruling, okayed Dasuki for three weeks medical leave abroad owing to his “deteriorating health condition”.
Meantime, decrying that security operatives refused him from enforcing the order of Justice Adeniyi, Dasuki, yesterday, urged the court to stop the siege to his house and order the Federal Government to allow him to seek proper medical attention abroad as he was earlier permitted to do by the court.
His application was premised on five grounds, among which included the fact that the action of the DSS runs contrary to a valid order of a court of competent jurisdiction. Besides, he is praying the court for permission to keep a re-rescheduled appointment with his physician abroad, by extending the earlier leave that was granted to him on November 3. In a 13-paragraph affidavit in support of the motion, Dasuki, told the court that following the order of November 3 permitting him to go abroad for medical attention, he immediately purchased his travel ticket.
He said that he had already obtained his boarding pass to accomplish the trip. He averred that shortly after, the operatives of the DSS, acting on behalf of the federal government stormed and barricaded his house at Asokoro “in brazen defiance of the court order and prevented him from traveling out”.
Dasuki asserted that the siege on his house ought to be immediately removed, saying as a result of the aggression of the federal government, “my life has been under constant threat”. Meantime, no date has been fixed for hearing of Dasuki’s fundamental right application.
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