AN advocacy organisation, Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre (RULAAC) has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to direct the State Security Service (SSS) to obey court orders and operate within the rule of law.
Okechukwu Nwanguma, Executive Director of the Centre in a press release said the SSS has now established itself as a lawless organisation by engaging in politically motivated arrests.
Nwanguma lamented the refusal of the SSS to honour the ruling of a High Court in Abia State which has ordered the release of a detained lawyer, Emperor Gabriel Ogbonna.
According to him, the Centre also called for the release of Akwa Ibom based journalist, Kufre Carter who is also being held against court order for publicly criticising the state’s Commissioner for Health.
He said the President must, at this time, intervene and save the country’s democracy from being derailed by the SSS.
“It’s time for the President to curtail the excesses of the SSS and call its leaders to order,” the statement read.
RULAAC said that the National Security Agencies Act does not allow the SSS to aresst and detain any person.
“What the security agency is supposed to do is to pass information detected to relevant agencies, which have the legal mandate to arrest, detain, and prosecute,” the Centre wrote.
Lukman Abolade is an Investigative reporter with The ICIR. Reach out to him via [email protected], on twitter @AboladeLAA and FB @Correction94