A Federal High court sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State, on Thursday ordered the Department of the State Security Service to release an Islamic cleric, Ganiyu Ibrahim-Jimoh, who was arrested on suspicion of terrorism, from custody immediately, saying the agency does not possess unlimited power to keep him in custody indefinitely.
The court also ruled that the arrest and continued detention of the cleric by the Ogun state Command of DSS is not only “illegal and unconstitutional”, but also an “abuse of his fundamental human rights”.
Delivering judgment in a suit filed on the cleric’s behalf by the Prisoners Right Advocacy Initiative (PRAI), Justice F. O. Ogunbanjo, held that the detention of Ibrahim-Jimoh since July 5, 2014 without trial, violated provisions of the nation’s constitution.
The judge aside ordering for his immediate release from DSS custody, also ordered the agency to pay N1million naira to him with a public apology.
It would be recalled that the cleric, alongside his pregnant wife, Muinat Ibrahim-Jimoh were arrested in his Ijoko-Ota residence by security operatives but later wounded up in the custody of the DSS at the Ogun State headquarters.
His wife, who was released last September when her Expected Delivery Date, EDD was approaching, was the one who gave information on the whereabouts of her husband.
Both the Director-General of DSS and the Attorney General of the Federation, were joined as 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively in the case with suit number FHC/AB/C8/84/2014.
