Femi Falana says President Muhammadu Buhari never disobeyed court orders when he was a military head but has persistently done so in a democracy.
The Human rights activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria(SAN) said this in Lagos on Thursday, during a public lecture on the 30th anniversary of the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR).
According to Falana, Buhari during his reign as a military head from December 31, 1983, to August 27, 1985, complied with court orders but has failed to do so now.
Falana reveals that he would write to the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), to inquire from him, why this is so.
His words: “I just remember this morning trying to write a letter to the Attorney-General of the Federation and I find, very painfully, that whereas the Buhari/Idiagbon regime complied with all court orders for the release of those who were held illegally under the state security detention of perpersoncree No 2 of 1984, we cannot say the same today under a democratic government.
“If you get a copy of Gani Fawehinmi’s book on Nigerian law on habeas corpus, all the judgments of our courts during the military dictatorship of Gowon up to the Buhari/Idiagbon regime, all the cases are documented in that book; not on a single occasion did the military regimes detain anybody who had been ordered to be released by the court. They could manipulate; they could filibuster, but ultimately they got everybody released.”
