The Department of State Services (DSS) has refused to honor a Federal High Court in Abuja’s release warrant for the bail of 12 companions of Yoruba nation activist, Sunday Igboho.
Due to the security agency’s reported reluctance to let the 12 defendants out of its custody facility in Abuja, the release orders signed by Justice Obiora Egwuatu after the defendants had finalized the bail granted to them by his court could not be implemented.
Yusuf Bichi, the Director-General of the DSS, is reported to have prevented lawyers from carrying out the release warrants since they were handed to him on Monday.
Mr. Pelumi Olajengbesi, the lawyer representing the 12 defendants, has threatened to file contempt charges against the Director-General of the State Security Services (SSS), Yusuf Magaji Bichi, for the agency’s alleged failure to obey the court order.
Olajengbesi told reporters in Abuja on Friday that his clients had completed the requirements of their bail awarded by Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court in Abuja last week, after which the court signed their release order on Monday.
Although being served with the court’s warrant, Olajengbesi claims the DSS has refused to produce the detainees who were seized during a strike on Igboho’s Ibadan house on July 1 by a joint team of DSS and Nigerian military officers.
He said, “The refusal of the SSS to honor a clear order of the court, though habitual, is not only worrisome and unacceptable but is an affront on the authority of the court and our entire judicial system
“Such blatant disregard for, and contemptuous, spiteful, and insolent disrespect of an Order of court 1f allowed to fester would undermine the very integrity of the court and breed even newer levels of rascality by state agents.
“It would also amount to surrendering the freedom and rights of all twelve detainees to the whims and caprices of an agency that has gone rogue and thrives in willful disobedience of court orders.
“In light of this, we are giving the DSS, particularly its Director-General, (48) hours and not an hour more, within which to fully obey and comply with the release order of the court in favor of all twelve detained associates of Mr. Sunday Igboho or face contempt proceedings before a court of competent jurisdiction with the full weight and recompense of the court brought to bear against his insolence and disregard of the court order.
“Take notice that we will not fail to exhaust all legal and social remedy available to the detainees in enforcing their rights in this matter and setting the tone against the SSS’ notorious disregard of due process and the rule of law.”
