DSS Lacks Power to Arrest, Prosecute for Terrorism, Falana Tells Court
Lagos-based human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), who is representing the detained Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore has told a Federal High Court, Abuja, that the Department of State Services (DSS) lacks the power to arrest, investigate and prosecute his client or any person whatsoever under the Terrorism Prevention Act as amended.
Sowore who is presently in detention had, on August 9, approached the Federal High Court seeking to vacate the ex parte order that gave the SSS the legal backing to detain him for 45 days.
The DSS had said Sowore was arrested on account of the #RevolutionNow protest, which he had spearheaded.
However, Falana in his written submission on point of law before the court argued that the state agency is not one of the law enforcement agencies recognised and listed in Section 40 of the Terrorism Prevention Act as amended to carry out such arrest and detention.
The senior lawyer said although he was not unaware that the DSS is listed in Section 40 of the Terrorism Prevention Act but that the DSS is not a juristic person having not been created by any Act of the National Assembly.
According to him, the fact that the SSS and DSS are used interchangeably in Nigeria has not conferred a legal status on the DSS, adding that as far as the law is concerned, the SSS has no power to substitute itself for the DSS.
He urged the court to determined three issues; whether the SSS was right to approach the Court under the Terrorism Amendment Prevention Act, 2013; whether it was right to approach the court through an ex parte application for the detention of Sowore and whether or not the grant of the order for the detention of the SSS is an infringement upon the fundamental human rights of Sowore.
He argued furthermore that unlike the Nigeria Police Force, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which are clothed with powers to arrest, detain and prosecute suspects, the SSS, which was established pursuant to Section 2 of the National Security Agencies Act, has not been so empowered to arrest, investigate and prosecute any person.