How conflicting court judgment stopped Ifeanyi Ubah’s release

Conflicting court judgments on Thurday prevented the release of Managing Director of Capital Oil and Gas, Dr Ifeanyi Ubah, from the custody of the Department of State Services (DSS).

An order by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Thursday that he be released on bail within 48 hours was opposed by another order by an FCT High Court sitting in Jabi, which granted the DSS an exparte motion to extend the detention of Ubah for 14 days.

Ubah was arrested by the security operatives on Friday May 5 and has been in the custody of the DSS for about 20 days.

In the Lagos ruling, the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, had in a 100 page judgment, ordered the DSS to release Ubah if it fails to file a charge against him.

In contrast, the Abuja court sacked a motion on notice brought by Ubah asking the court to vacate its earlier exparte order granted on May 10 that allowed DSS to detain him for 14 days.

The initial exparte order expired on Wednesday May 24.

Justice Yusuf Halilu, in his ruling instead granted the prayer of the counsel to the DSS, G.O.A. Agbadua, asking the court to grant its new motion exparte brought pursuant to Section 296(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) to extend the detention of Ubah for a further period of 14 days.

Halilu held that it is only fair in the interest of justice that the DSS be allowed further time to conclude its investigation.

Earlier, the DSS lawyer had argued that the prayer to extend Ubah’s detentio became necessary following the inability of the security operative to conclude investigation within the earlier 14 days as the investigation took on a wider dimension.

Meanwhile, Ekiti State Governor Ayodele Fayose has condemned DSS over the continued detention of Ubah, describing the security operatives as Federal Government’s “terror gang”.

Read also: SURVEY: Do you agree with opposition claims that the Buhari government is using the EFCC against them?

He said the DSS claim that Ubah’s offence was punishable by death was reckless and alarming, added that “the DSS has now become law unto itself, dragging Nigeria back to 1984 when Decree 2 was used by the National Security Organisation (NSO) to dump Nigerians in detention without trial.”

Fayose who stated this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Thursday, expressed worry that less than two hours after a High Court in Lagos ordered the DSS to release Ubah within 48 hours or charge him to court, the DSS got another High Court in Abuja to secure an order to detain him for another 14 days.

“The judiciary must be mindful of being used by the DSS to sustain its regime of tyranny by granting orders allowing the service to detain Nigerians perpetually.

“Our courts should not allow themselves to becoming willing tools to promote and sustain dictatorship. They should be able to stand up against the tyrannical acts of the DSS by asking when it became the duty of the service to arrest and detain Nigerians for offences still being investigated.”

 

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