The Appeal Court in Abuja, on Friday, varied the terms attached to the bail condition earlier granted a former National Security Adviser, NSA, Col. Sambo Dasuki.
The appallete court granted Dasuki’s request and expunged the requirement that the former NSA should produce a Level 16 civil servant, who must own a property worth N100million within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as surety.
In a unanimous judgment, a three-man panel of the court ruled that the inclusion of civil servants as surety was an oversight on the part of the court.
Justice Stephen Adah, in the lead judgment ordered that Dasuki should instead produce two sureties, with property worth N100 million within the FCT.
Justice Adah, in the Appeal Court judgment, said the court’s decision to request that Dasuki produce a civil servant as surety was an oversight.
He said: “Of concern to us is that we as a court must be ready and sensitive enough not to do anything that will run against the laws of the land.
“The issue of involving civil servants or public officers in the service of the federation or the state in bail of people accused of offences has never been the practice anywhere that is civilised, and we should stop it at this level.
“It was an error that we allowed that to stay. So, it is in this respect that we will act ex debito justitiae (as a matter of right) ensuring that aspect of the condition is removed from the conditions of bail that were granted.
“It is in this respect that we grant this application, thereby inaugurating a new regime of bail. Bail is now granted to the appellant/applicant in the sum of N100m with two sureties in like sum.
“The sureties shall be resident within the jurisdiction of the trial court and each of which shall furnish evidence of ownership of the property in Abuja. This shall be the order of the court.”
The former NSA is currently in custody of the Department of State Services, DSS, despite being granted bail.
Following his continued incarceration, Dasuki had challenged his continued detention since December 2015 at an Abuja Federal High Court in a fundamental rights enforcement suit.
In a judgment on July 2, 2018, the Federal High Court granted Dasuki bail but attached conditions, which the ex-NSA found too stringent to meet.
