A Nigerian woman, Mrs Caroline Markus; the wife of detained National President of Mumuye Youths, Ntari Hassan Danladi has accused the Department of State Services (DSS) and Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami of illegally detaining her husband, according to SaharaReporters.
Ntari was arrested by the operatives of the DSS in his office at Mumuye House, Mile Six, Jalingo, Taraba State on May 6, 2021, on allegation of having links with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
She said her husband was arrested without a warrant and subsequently locked up at a Military Holding Facility in Wawa, Niger State.
A distraught Caroline, who could not control her emotions, spoke to SaharaReporters at the weekend.
According to her, life has become miserable for her and her little daughter since Ntari was arrested.
She said the secret police had refused to release her husband despite a court order ordering that he should be released from detention, thereby subjecting the family to untold hardship.
Caroline disclosed that Ntari’s parents have been crying day and night over his arrest as he is the breadwinner of the family.
“Please, release my husband; let him come back to us. His parents are crying every day. He has no one to take care of them and nobody to take care of us. I am calling on the government to release my husband from detention. He has been arrested and detained since May 2021.
“A Federal High Court in Abuja has given an order that he should be released but the DSS and the Attorney General of the Federation (Malami) have refused to obey the order,” she said.
SaharaReporters had on February 16, 2022, exclusively reported how Justice A.I. Chikere threatened to jail the Director-General of DSS, Yusuf Bichi over the continued detention of Ntari despite an order for his release.
The Director-General in a motion marked FHC/ABJ/CS/450/2021, and filed on February 18, 2022, told the court to hold Malami and the Nigerian Army responsible for the continued detention of the youth leader.
He also prayed the court to vacate the order of committal proceedings issued against him, adding that the service had transferred the case of Ntari to the AGF (Malami) for prosecution upon the completion of an investigation.
The motion read in part: “That upon completion of an investigation, the case file of the Respondents was forwarded to the Attorney-General of the Federation for prosecution while the Respondents were transferred to the military facility at Wawa in Niger State where terrorists are being tried.
“That the Order of Court was still in subsistence when the Applicant moved the Respondents to Military Holding Facility, Wawa, Kainji, Niger State for speedy prosecution, as a prima facie case of Terrorism has been established against the Respondents.
“That I know as a fact that the Respondents and their case files are no longer in the Applicant’s custody and as such, the Applicant cannot account for them.
“That the Applicant did not disobey the Court Order of 29th November 2021 out of disrespect, as the Respondents are no longer in the Applicant’s custody.
“That the Respondent is not in the habit of disregarding Court Orders.”
Bichi claimed that it is the Nigerian Army that controls the Military Holding Facility at Wawa and not the DSS, therefore the service could not release or produce the suspect as ordered by the court.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army through the Chief of Army Staff, said in a letter to Ntari’s lawyer, Danladi P. D. Pius, who had earlier written a letter asking for Ntari’s release, that only the DSS can direct them to do that.
But the AGF (Malami) in a letter dated March 28, 2022, to acknowledge Pius’ letter demanding Ntari’s release, said he would like to hear from the Nigerian Army on the case.
Reacting to the development in an interview with SaharaReporters, Ntari’s lawyer, Pius said, “It appears we are going round and round with each institution pushing the baton of the blame on the other.
“We shall continue to push until justice is done in line with the law. We shall also be filing N100 billion damages action against all of them.”
