Lawyers Blast Buhari – “You Are Not A Lawyer, You Have No Right To Detain Anyone”

The continued detention of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col Sambo Dasuki and leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu has raised a lot of dust amidst SANs.

While expressing their regrets towards how President Muhammadu Buhari neglected the rule of law and how he detained Mazi Kanu and Sambo Dasuki despite that Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has granted them bail unconditionally.


According to the Lawyers, “We advised the President to, in future, allow the Attorney General of the Federa­tion and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, to handle such topics on be­half of the government”.

Mahmud Magaji, SAN, stated, “going by provisions of our extant constitution, the presumption is that a person charged to court for whatever of­fence, is innocent until guilt is established. Unless I am told that the constitution was amended last night. That you level an ac­cusation on someone does not make the person guilty automatically. If it is so, why then are the courts there? What we are practicing is constitutional democracy. Anyway, I did not listen to the media chat and cannot therefore, speak much on the is­sue”.

Chief Joe Agi, SAN, said: “I really want to believe that the President did not mean what he said. I have a feeling that what he wanted to say was that though granted bail, if there are other cases against the accused persons, they could be re-arrested, notwithstanding the pend­ing case.

“It will be totally wrong to refuse to release some­one on bail in the absence of any pending allegation. Clearly, I am so sure that what the President meant to say was not what he said or what was understood. We should also appreciate the fact that he is not a lawyer.

“If I am to advise the President, I will say he should in future, leave such issues to the Attorney General of the Federation to clarify”.

A constitutional lawyer, Mr. Festus Ogwuche, said: “The President got it wrong. No matter the number of allegations against an accused person, once the mat­ter has been charged before a competent court, that court assumes powers to determine whether or not the person deserves bail.

“Court orders are made to be obeyed, if not, it be­comes impunity. No matter the gravity of the offence, an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Proper investigation ought to have been conducted and concluded before a person is charged. Re-arrest­ing someone immediately after the court has granted such person bail makes mockery of our democracy which is presumably anchored on the rule of law and separation of powers”,

Meanwhile, another Lawyer backs what Pres. Buhari did, he stated that he sees nothing wrong with what he did;

Legal icon, Professor Itse Sagay, SAN, said: “The way I see it is that any bail granted an accused, is completely related to the offence which he is charged before the court. So, if after he (the accused) has been granted bail and the prosecution dis­covers another offence for which no bail has been granted, then the accused can be re-arrested. So, that cannot be in violation of a bail, which is in relation to an earlier stated offence.

“I do not know the full facts but what I am saying is that if this re-arrest arises out of fresh offences, which are not part of the ones for which the person had been granted bail, then there is a right to arrest. This is not a breach of the rule of law.”