LAGOS, July 2 (Xinhua) -- A federal high court in Abuja, Nigeria's capital on Monday ordered the government to release former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki on bail, after over two years in detention.
The reprieve for Dasuki came in the judgment of Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu in the fundamental human right suit filed by the ex-NSA.
Dasuki was the security adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan.
The former security chief who had been granted bail by four different High Courts in Nigeria and ECOWAS Court of Justice, in the suit argued by his counsel, Ahmed Raji, urged the court to compel the government to obey all court orders for his release from detention.
In the latest judgment, Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu ordered that Dasuki be released on bail in the sum of 200 million naira (556,000 U.S. dollars) and two sureties in the like sum.
Justice Ojukwu lambasted the government for unjustly arresting and detaining a Nigerian citizen for over two years without any justification contrary to the provision of the law.
The court dismissed the claim of the security agency that Dasuki was being held in protective custody on the strength of the alleged arm and ammunition found in his house.
The judge also dismissed the claims of the government that Dasuki was being held on fresh allegations of money laundering, adding that such claims should go to the graveyard because it cannot be used to justify the detention of any Nigerian for as long as over two years without being charged to court on any fresh allegation.
