Abdullahi M. Gulloma
Until this week, many issues were raised and palpable explanations made by laymen and notable human rights lawyers and activists for and against the continued detention of the former National Security Adviser (NSA), retired Colonel Sambo Dasuki, and the leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMAN), Sheikh Ibrahim El-Zakzaky by the federal government agents.
However, all that came to an end, Tuesday, when the Presidency claimed that the two notable figures are being held in government facilities in the interest of the nation.
Speaking on the mid-term achievements of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Garba Shehu, said Dasuki was being held because he had other cases to answer while El-Zakzaky’s was kept in government custody for his own personal safety.
Shehu said that El-Zakzaky could not be released because government was looking at both the public and security interests’ dimensions of his case.
Yet, it should be said that different courts, at different times and places, have ruled in favour of granting bail to the high profile detainees.
For example, Justice Gabriel Kolawola of the Abuja Federal High Court had in December 2016 ordered the State Security Service (SSS) to release El-Zakzaky. The judge declared that the continuous detention of El-Zakzaky since December 13, 2015, was unlawful and illegal since the issue of protective custody was not known to law or the National Security Agencies Act establishing the SSS.
Shehu, who spoke alongside Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr Femi Adesina, and the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, said: “On the issue of Zakzaky, the information we have is that he is being kept more for his own safety than the offences he committed.
If you set him free today, what do you think will likely be the reactions out there on the streets of Kaduna or in Zazzau, where he comes from?”
It looks like this is where the point was lost. Though Shehu did not say, Zazzau, otherwise known as Zaria, is where Zakzaky resides, schooled, formed and headquartered his Islamic movement and as for what reactions are likely to be on the streets of the ancient academic city if Zakzaky was set free, we all don’t need to be told or fear. Some residents will rejoice and others will decry and condemn the authorities for his release.
It’s doubtable if there’ll be violent clashes on the streets of Zaria between those who would be for or against Zakzaky’s release or bail. And, if there were to be breakdown of law and order as a result of his getting bail, the security agencies should be proactive to avert that. Zakzaky’s movement can also be curtailed and monitored because, certainly, the law did not envisage that a person’s fundermental human rights must be discarded because some people, in his area of residence, will be unhappy about his freedom and exercise of religious practices.
It’s important to state that in his absence, demonstrations were staged by those who support and oppose Zakzaky and such events were, in most cases, poorly handled by the security personnel, leading to loss of lives and property.
The same argument can be put forward in respect of the former NSA. Different courts, at different times and places, have ruled in favour of granting him bail, yet he is still in detention.
Shehu said that the continued detention of the former National Security Adviser was informed by series of cases against him, stressing that his release might affect the ongoing investigation of the cases.
“It is a common thing in all nations of the world that there are matters of public safety. The Attorney General and Minister of Justice, I think, had made his points here in the State House, against individuals’ interests. And in all cases, public good should override individual interest,” he said.
Really, the argument canvassed by Shehu on Dasuki’s continuous detention by government agents isn’t cogent, and that’s putting it mildly. Truly, if the government has other cases against Dasuki as Shehu wants us to believe, then he should be charged to court on the strength of those cases, and if the court grants him bail, so be it. For it is part of the responsibilities government to ensure that court orders are obeyed.
And I believe sincerely that the law must be allowed to take its course. The security agents should do their job and government should respect court rulings in order to prevent the country from descending into an anarchical state.
