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Operatives of the Department of State Services, DSS, have continued to lay siege to the Abuja residence of former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (Rtd) and the former NSA would be in court today (Monday) to enforce his fundamental rights.
Dasuki’s house in Abuja has been under siege, with DSS operatives restricting the movement of the retired military colonel and that of other people coming into the residence.
The operatives are insisting on delivering personally, a letter of invitation for him to appear before a committee set up by the government to probe arms purchase while he (Dasuki) held sway as NSA.
“I told them that if it is just a letter of invite, they can drop it with my domestic staff, but they insisted that I must come out and collect it myself.
“I told them that unless they had a warrant allowing them to arrest me, I do not have to collect the letter from them and I am also not going anywhere without my lawyer,” Dasuki has said.
The Department of State Security, DSS, had earlier debunked the claim that its operatives invaded the home of the former National Security Adviser in defiance of a court order granting him permission to travel abroad for medical treatment.
The DSS, in a statement, explained that the action by its officers is caused by the refusal of Mr Dasuki to honour an invitation by a committee investigating his alleged involvement in the 2 billion dollars arms procurement process by the past administration.
“It may be recalled that Sambo was initially arrested and charged to court for unlawful possession of firearms and money laundering, for which reason his international passport was seized and on the order of the court, returned to the registrar for custody.
“What has, however, brought the seeming standoff between Sambo and the service, despite the court-ordered release of his international passport on November 4, 2015, is his refusal to appear before a committee undertaking the investigation of an entirely different case,” the service said.
The former National Security Adviser (NSA) Colonel Sambo Dasuki, had denied ever receiving any invitation letter to appear before a committee set up by the current administration to investigate procurement processes relating to any arms transaction by the last administration, under which he served.
Colonel Dasuki said that the DSS is determined to re-arrest him without any court warrant or fresh charges.
He said that his current travails started after Justice Adeniyi Ademola of the Federal High Court ordered his passport returned to him to enable him go abroad for medical treatment.
He added that he received “intelligence” that an order was given to the operatives to effect his arrest at the airport. As a result, he failed to leave on Wednesday as arranged.
The home of Colonel Sambo Dasuki in the nation’s capital, Abuja was surrounded by men of the DSS on Thursday and the former NSA has accused the SSS and the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) of abuse of power.
Dasuki has also argued that it was strange that a committee purported to be operating from the office of the National Security Adviser could have transferred its mandates to the DSS.
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