The former NSA had dragged the Nigerian government to the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, where he claimed that his life was in danger and that he had been kept under house arrest by armed operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court on Monday threw out a suit filed before it by the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd), against the Nigerian government.
Dasuki, who served as the NSA under former President Goodluck Jonathan, had approached the court to order the Nigerian government to enforce a previous judgment delivered in his favour.
The former NSA had dragged the Nigerian government to the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, where he claimed that his life was in danger and that he had been kept under house arrest by armed operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Dasuki was arrested in 2015 for allegedly stealing the sum of $2billion and awarding phantom contracts to buy 12 helicopters, four fighter jets and ammunition. But he denied the allegations.
The former NSA in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed before ECOWAS court against the Nigerian government, prayed the court to uphold his rights to dignity and security of life, saying that the DSS operatives laid siege to his house and prevented him from traveling abroad for medical treatment.
On October 4, 2016, the ECOWAS court delivered judgment in favour of Dasuki and ordered his release from illegal custody.
The ECOWAS Court judge, Justice Friday Nwoke, in a suit marked: ECW/CCJ/JUD/23/16, then declared the government’s action against Dasuki as “arbitrary, unlawful, a mockery of democracy and the rule of law, and a violation of local and international rights to liberty”.
The West African bloc court further held then that Dasuki’s arrest and detention by the Nigerian government was unlawful and a violation of his rights, and that the government’s action violated Dasuki’s rights under the African Charter of Human and People’s Rights and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights.
The court then ordered the release of all Dasuki’s seized properties as well as a payment of N15,000,000 in damages to him.
However, the Nigerian government failed to obey the ECOWAS court judgment.
Following the Nigerian government’s refusal to enforce the said judgment, Dasuki filed an application before the court seeking enforcement of the judgment.
But the Nigerian government during the trial again denied Dasuki’s allegations, noting that the properties being claimed by the former NSA were subjects of ongoing criminal proceedings, which he did not disclose in the suit.
The Nigerian government’s counsel argued that the government had already fulfilled its obligations, saying that the court’s Chief Registrar had issued a Writ of Execution, making the relief prayed for by the applicant unnecessary.
According to PUNCH, on Monday, ECOWAS court in a judgment delivered by its Judge Rapporteur, Justice Sengu Koroma, on Dasuki’s application, set aside the application on the ground that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain or enforce the earlier judgment.
Justice Koroma held that the court was guided by laid down procedures regarding the enforcement of its judgments as enshrined in the Community Law, and the proper party to institute an enforcement failure claim.
The court was quoted as saying, “Having thoroughly assessed the claims and constitutive texts of the Court, it lacks the competence to adjudicate the present claim,” and awarded no costs to Dasuki and the Nigerian government."