A suit has been filed at the Federal High Court, Abuja against the Department of State Services (DSS) and its Director-General, Mr Yusuf Bichi.
The suit is challenging the continued detention of the 12 aides of the popular Yoruba Nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemo aka Igboho who was arrested by the operatives of the DSS.
Recall that the DSS few weeks ago raided the residence of Igboho located in Soka area of Ibadan, Oyo State and arrested 12 aides of the activist. Ever since, the whereabouts of the aides has been unknown as reports suggested they have been remanded in the custody of the DSS.
However, one of the counsels to the applicants in the suit, Mr. Pelumi Olajengbesi, who spoke with the PUNCH revealed that a suit has been filed against the DSS and it is set for hearing at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
According to Olajengbesi, the suit hearing has been scheduled for Tuesday, July 20, 2021, which happens to be Sallah day.
Olajengbesi, during the interview stated that the DSS operatives allegedly refused to grant him alongside his other lawyers access to the detained aides.
However, in the joint suit which was field on July 7, 2021 at the High Court, the applicants are seeking a court order to compell the DSS to release the 12 detainees.
In the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/647/2021, the applicants also sought the order of the court mandating and compelling the respondents to produce the applicants before the court and “show cause as to why the applicants should not be granted bail in accordance with the provision of section 32 of Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2015 and other extant laws in Nigeria.”
Meanwhile, Olajengbesi stated that the court has assured them the court hearing will go as scheduled on Tuesday despite the public holiday declared on the day to mark the Eid-el-Kabir celebrations.
In his words, “We were at the Federal High Court Abuja on Friday and we can confirm that the matter has been assigned to Federal High Court 9, Abuja and will be coming up for hearing on Tuesday the 20th of July, 2021.
“While we are not ignorance of the fact that the stipulated date happens to be a public holiday as declared by the Federal Government, we contacted the Registrar of the court and complained, but the response was that My Lord personally fixed the date. We are optimistic that we will get another short date since we are not certain the matter will proceed for hearing that day, however we will follow up.
“The matter should have been heard by now, but we are surprised that it took too long for us to get response on the assigned court despite filing affidavits of extreme urgency. We are glad the matter is now in Court 9 and we are hopeful of having a good day in court soon.”
