An Abuja High Court sitting at Jabi has ordered the EFCC and the Nigerian Army to release Colonel Nicholas Ashinze, a former aide to the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd).
Delivering judgment on a fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed by Colonel Ashinze, Justice Yusuf Haliru directed the respondents to immediately release the applicant on self-recognition.
He said that the detention of Dasuki’s aide for over three months without trial, was illegal and constituted a blatant violation of the fundamental rights of the applicant.
The court also ordered the immediate release of documents and items the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seized from the house of the applicant.
Justice Haliru in his ruling on Monday, also advised both the EFCC and the Nigerian Army to behave responsibly and not to act as if Nigeria was still under military dictatorship.
He said that the EFCC Act is not superior to the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which stipulated that any person so detained should be charged to court within reasonable time not exceeding two months from the date of arrest.
The judge declined to grant an order directing the EFCC and Nigerian Army to either pay 500 million Naira damage or to offer public apology to the applicant who it said is still a serving military personnel.
The former aide to Colonel Sambo Dasuki has been in detention since December 23, 2015.
