Release Dasuki from detention - Court orders

NTA Africa Oct - 05 - 2016 , 08:51

A judge has ordered the release of Nigeria's former national security adviser, who has been held since December 2015 on fraud charges.

Justice Friday Chijioike Nwoke of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court said Sambo Dasuki’s detention was unlawful and arbitrary.

Dasuki has been accused of fraud involving $68 million of defence spending, part of a wider $2.1 billion in arms deals under investigation. He has pleaded not guilty.

He served under Nigeria's former president, Goodluck Jonathan, who was defeated in last year's election by Muhammadu Buhari, a former military ruler who has promised to crackdown on corruption.

The judge at the ECOWAS Court of Justice, sitting in Nigeria's capital Abuja, ruled that Dasuki should be released immediately and the government should pay him 15 million naira ($46,606) in compensation for his arrest and detention.

The ruling said Dasuki's "arrest, detention and continued detention" after having been granted bail by three different domestic courts was "unlawful" and "arbitrary".

However, sovereign states do not have to respect the court's rulings and there is no framework for making them binding.