BY CHUKWUMA NNAM
Nigeria Department of State Service, DSS will on Monday be charged for contempt of court if it fails to release the remaining two aides of the Yoruba Nation agitator, Chief Sunday Igboho on or before Monday.
The DSS has therefore been given a three-day ultimatum to release the two remaining aides of Yoruba Nation activist, Sunday Adeyemo.
After the ultimatum which expires on Monday, the counsel to the detained aides, Pelumi Olajengbesi, said the secret police will be taken to court for contempt.
Olajengbesi made this vow on Friday when he realised that two of the detained Igboho’s aides were released without the remaining two in secret police custody.
.Recall that on August 30, eight aides of the twelve Sunday Igboho in the DSS custody were released by DSS left with four despite meeting all of their bail conditions.
The twelve suspects were all granted bail on August 4, 2021, but the DSS released eight and held on to the remaining four in their custody against the wish of the court.
According to the DSS, the remaining four were actively involved in Igboho’s agitation activities.
But Olajengbesi announced on Friday that two of the four – Tajudeen Irinloye and Uthman Opeymi Adelabu – have been released.
Reacting to their release in a statement, the lawyer said, “Regrettably and in the whimsical habit of the DSS, only two of the remaining four received their freedom while the other two namely; Amudat Habibat Babatunde and Jamiu Noah Oyetunji, remain in the unlawful custody of the DSS.
“No valid reasons based on law were availed the Legal Team for this willful disobedience of the rule of law and express Order of court.
“The DSS’ act of cherry-picking of an order of the court is an open dare and affront on the authority of the issuing court and it lacks legal justification under the extant laws of Nigeria. It is indeed a condemnable action in any sane democratic society and speaks ill of the professionalism of the intelligence agency.
“The DSS simply has no right nor power to select or unilaterally handpick which order of the court is convenient for it to obey or honour. It is bound to obey all. Any iota of non-compliance to an order of the court is tantamount to a disregard of such an order in its entirety and a challenge to the Constitution. This capricious act is contemptuous.
“Consequently, we hereby restate that if by Monday the 6th of September, 2021, the DSS continue with their unlawful detention of the remaining two (2) detainees, we shall not hesitate to proceed forthwith with our earlier plans to institute Contempt proceeding against the Director-General of the SSS.
“The DSS as a law enforcement agency should not be allowed to carry out its official responsibility with impunity and absolute disrespect to the laws of the land, especially where the constitutional rights and liberty of citizens are at stake. It is reprehensible conduct unbecoming of an agency that is itself a creation of the law and it will not go unchallenged.”
