Falana said this in a letter addressed to the new DSS boss on Sunday.
The activist, therefore, advised Seiyefa
to see his appointment as an opportunity to purge the DSS of the rot
that characterised the Lawal Daura era.
Falana recalled that Daura blatantly
ignored court orders and even went as far as arresting judges who he
could not cow into submission.
He said, “Apart from not obtaining
orders from magistrate courts for the remand of suspects in line with
section 293 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, Mr Daura
treated the orders of several courts for the release of detainees with
contempt.
“He became so power-drunk that he
harassed judges and lawyers who challenged his penchant for subverting
the rule of law. At a stage, we had to remind him that the brutal
military dictators who trained minions like him did not succeed in
cowing us into submission when we were fighting for the restoration of
democratic rule in the country.”
The senior advocate noted that a former
National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.); the leader of the
Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zakzaky, and his wife
Zeinab, as well as a journalist, Jones Abiri, were unjustly detained for
years by Daura.
He said in the case of El-Zakzaky, Daura
refused to allow him to get medical treatment abroad despite the fact
that he had sustained an eye injury when he was being manhandled by
soldiers.
Falana lamented that while Daura carried
out his duties with total disregard for human rights, none of his
superiors could caution him.
He called on the new DSS boss to refocus
the agency such that it would stop usurping the powers of the police,
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and other agencies of
government.
Falana asked the new DSS boss to
discontinue the charges pending against Abiri and Peter Opume at the
Wuse Magistrate Court; release the hundreds of detainees that are
languishing without trial in the various detention centers of the DSS
and release Col. Dasuki and other criminal suspects who had been
admitted to bail by municipal and regional courts.
He added, “Release Sheik El-Zakzaky and
his wife from illegal custody in line with the orders of the Federal
High Court; respect the rights of suspects to consult legal
practitioners of their choice before making, endorsing or writing any
statement or answering any question put to them after the arrest.
“Draw the attention of all DSS
investigators to the Anti-Torture Act of 2017 which has criminalized the
use of torture in all security agencies; ensure that all detention
facilities of the DSS are inspected monthly by the visiting Judge of the
Federal High Court in accordance with the provision of section 34 of
the Administration of Criminal Justice Act.”
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