A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has pleaded with world leaders to prevail on President Muhammadu Buhari to respect the courts by releasing on bail the duo of the erstwhile National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), and the leader of Shiites Islamic movement, Sheikh Ibraheem El-Zackzaky, who have languished in underground jails for over three years extra-legally.

The human rights group said that the continuous detention and duplication of charges against the duo by President Buhari is an act of treason against the constitution and that it is necessary that they are not allowed to die in detention following reports of their deteriorating health conditions.

Besides, HURIWA condemned what it called the illegal order issued by the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Adamu Mohammed, restricting public protests to only within the confines of Unity Fountain in Abuja as against the clear provisions of the constitution in Chapter four and provisions of the constitution guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms of movement and peaceful assembly, including the binding appellate court’s verdict clearly stating that police don’t have any legal right to stop protests and against the most cherished values of constitutional democracy built around the tripod of freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of movement which are even guaranteed by a plethora of global human rights laws.

HURIWA wonders how the IGP, whose office is a creation of the constitution, has assumed the ultra vires power of over-ruling the constitution and the courts of competent jurisdiction.

Specifically, HURIWA expressed disbelief that the rest of the developed world had looked on as President Buhari has unleashed venoms and vicious attacks against protesters and has adopted extra-legal measures to detain citizens against binding decisions of the courts of competent jurisdiction as empowered by section 36(5) and section (6) which states: “Every person who is charged with a criminal offence shall be presumed to be innocent until he is proved guilty;

Provided that nothing in this section shall invalidate any law by reason only that the law imposes upon any such person the burden of proving particular facts.”

Specifically, HURIWA stated that the President can't overrule the constitutionally guaranteed judicial powers of the federation conferred on the courts in accordance with section 6 of the Nigerian constitution.

“We are shocked that whilst constitutional democracy gradually dies away in Nigeria due to deliberate whittling down of respect for human rights by the current administration, world leaders in U.S.A. and U.K. simply don’t care but pretend to be unaware of the global consequences of a deluge of refugees from Nigeria should democracy collapsed under the heavy weight of tyranny and totalitarianism of the current administration.”

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