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| FILE - Nigeria's former national security adviser, Sambo Dasuki (C), arrives for a hearing at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria, Dec. 14, 2015. |
LAGOS —
Nigeria's former national security adviser, held since December 2015
on fraud charges, should be released, a judge at the court of the
Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) ruled Tuesday, saying
his detention was unlawful and arbitrary.
Sambo Dasuki has been accused of fraud involving $68 million of
defense spending, part of a wider $2.1 billion in arms deals under
investigation. He has pleaded not guilty.
He served under Nigeria's former president, Goodluck Jonathan, who
was defeated in last year's election by Muhammadu Buhari, a former
military ruler who has promised to crack down on corruption.
The judge at the ECOWAS Court of Justice, sitting in Nigeria's
capital Abuja, ruled that Dasuki should be released immediately and the
government should pay him 15 million Naira ($46,606) in compensation for
his arrest and detention.
The ruling by Justice Friday Chijioike Nwoke said Dasuki's "arrest,
detention and continued detention" after having been granted bail by
three different domestic courts was "unlawful" and "arbitrary."
However, sovereign states do not have to respect the court's rulings and there is no framework for making them binding.
http://www.voanews.com/a/court-rules-nigeria-release-former-security-adviser/3536923.html
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