DSS disobeys judge’s order, fails to produce detained Igboho’s associates in court

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Thursday adjourned the suit by the 12 detained associates of the Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also called Igboho, after the Department of State Services (DSS) failed to produce his associates as earlier ordered by the court.

Justice Obiora Egwuatu had also ordered the DSS to grant the lawyer to the detained associates access to his clients, which the DSS also disobeyed.

However, the counsel to the DSS, I. Awo, informed the court that the DSS had no intention of disobeying its orders, saying some facts were necessary for the court to be aware of regarding the matter.

Awo stated that some of the names on the court order were different from the names of the persons they had arrested on July 1, 2021, at Igboho’s house.

Responding, the counsel to the applicants, Pelumi Olajengbesi, alleged that the DSS had given the applicants new names as there were discrepancies in the spelling of their names.

In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/647/2021, Justice Egwuatu had ordered the DSS to produce the detained aides of Igboho in court and had asked the service to show cause why Igboho’s associates should not be admitted to bail.

Ripples Nigeria had reported that the detained associates of the activist instituted a suit against the DSS and its Director-General, Yusuf Bichi, following their arrest and detention on July 1, after the DSS raided Igboho’s residence in the Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

At the last adjourned date, the applicants’ counsel, moved his ex parte motion praying the court for an order “mandating and compelling the respondents to produce the applicants” to enable the court to “inquire into the circumstances constituting grounds of their arrest and detention” since July 1, and where it seems fit, grant the applicants bail.

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They also sought the order of the court mandating and compelling the respondents to produce the applicants before the court and “show cause as to why the applicants should not be granted bail following the provision of section 32 of Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and other extant laws in Nigeria.”

Olajengbesi had argued that the applicants are citizens of Nigeria with inherent rights, adding that since the applicants were arrested, no one had heard from them.

The applicants are Abdulateef Ofeyagbe, Amoda Babatunde, Tajudeen Erinoyen, Diakola Ademola, Abideen Shittu, Jamiu Noah, Ayobami Donald, Adelabe Usman, Oluwapelimi Kunle, Raji Kazeem, Taiwo Opeyemi, and Bamidele Sunday.

The court adjourned the case to Monday, August 2.

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