Two lawyers – Mr Siraj Hamza and Junaid Sanusi – have called on the Nigerian Army to comply with the judgment of a Borno State High Court directing it to release 14 of their clients from illegal detention.
Hamza also called on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) to establish a mechanism to audit detention facilities across the nation.
Hamza has A. Aliyu as the second lawyer representing the detained men.
Explaining that despite the judgment which declared that detention of his clients without trial violated their rights, the Army has refused to obey court order, suggesting that it is above the law.
He said his clients were arrested and detained on their way to rural communities where they went to buy cows meant to be slaughtered and given to indigent Muslims during Sallah.
Hamza told reporters in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital: “Sometimes on May 17, 2024 along Buratai-Miringa Road, our clients, 12 of them, were riding in two buses on their way to Tashan Alade Cattle Market to buy cattle which were to be used during the Eid Al-Kabir festival, an annual event being organised by a non-governmental organisation where cows in their hundreds are slaughtered and shared or distributed among the indigent members of the society. The exercise had been on for over a decade and has been impacting on the indigent members of Abuja and its environs, including the military.
“The exercise was extended to Bauchi, Yola and Maiduguri, hence the need to buy about 600 heads of cow for the exercise in Maiduguri. Before the incident of May 17, 2024; our clients had already purchased 241 heads of cow and transported them to Maiduguri and were entrusted with one Musa Mustapha Umar at the Maiduguri Cattle Market; while one Abubakar Ibrahim Murabus Potiskum was in the company of our clients assisting them to source money from Point of Sale (PcS) operators and filling stations due to impracticability of electronically transacting business in the various cattle markets.’’
“As earlier stated, our clients were stopped by the Civilian JTF who searched them without finding anything incriminating on them, save for the $88,737,200. When they discovered that our clients had over $88,737,200 with them, they demanded for gratification before they could be cleared to leave, but they declined as a result of which they were transferred to the military outpost in Buratai where they were again interrogated and detained. The following day which was May 18, 2024; they were transferred to Sector 2 at Damatur from where they were transferred to the Headquarters of Theatre Command, Operation Hadin Kai in Maiduguri which marked the beginning of their incarceration.
“It is also worthy to state that the first 12 of them came from Dei-Dei Livestock Market, Abuja, led by Danlami Muhammad Bashir, the alter ego of Fatima Meat, the company that was contracted to procure the heads of cow.
Few weeks after, when the detention of the judgment-creditor that is, our clients was becoming prolonged, the Chairman of their association, Alhaji Shagari Usman Yusuf, flew into Maiduguri to see them in company of their lawyer which was unsuccessful.
“Prior to that, Alhaji Musa Mustapha Umar too had been arrested and detained for having the audacity to visit them at the Theatre Command of Operation Hadin Kai.
Shagari was displeased with the actions of the military which prompted him to approach the popular Berekete Family in Abuja to ventilate their grievances. The president contacted the Army spokesman and Shagari was invited to the Army Headquarters twice.
“Ironically, a day to the Eid Adha festival, some armed military personnel armed to the teeth, stormed the Dei-Dei International Cattle Market where they arrested him, hooded him, tortured him and later found himself in an underground cell in Abuja before he was eventually brought to Maiduguri by one Colonel Wasiu Ademola Adegoke 18 days after,and detained with the others at the Giwa Barracks.”
The lawyers insisted that the disobedience to court order is against the rule of law, adding that the Army was free to appeal the judgment and apply for of execution if it so desires.
The August 6 judgment by Justice Babagana Karumi of Borno State High Court directed the Army to release the men or sue them within seven days if a prima facie case is established against them. Hamza said the Army was still keeping his clients in detention after over 45 days of the judgment, saying it signals danger for the society.