A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted the Defence Intelligence Agency permission to detain an Assistant Superintendent of Police, A. A Babangida, and 19 others for 30 days after they were linked to banditry, kidnapping, and other acts considered as terrorism.
Others detained were Usman Idris, Abu Safiyanu, Alhassan Idris, Sahada Ishaka, Abubakar Ibrahim Sani Bello, Yahaya Abdullahi, Haruna Salisu, and Mohammed Muazu.
Also detained were Nura Idris, Manu Mohammed, Umar Lamu, Abubakar Mandara, Suleiman Mohammed, Alhaji Madayi, Amodu Oghewe, and Uzoma Aghaoyibo.
The ruling was delivered by Justice Peter Lifu, on an ex-parte application marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1146/2024 and brought before the court by the Defence Intelligence Agency.
Lifu ordered that Babangida and the others be detained to allow the security agency to complete its ongoing investigation which would ascertain the status of allegations against them at the court.
Babangida was alleged to have been aiding Boko Haram members, bandits, and other criminals in their activities across the country.
He was arrested in June following an intelligence report received by the DIA and has since been in the custody of the agency.
DIA’s counsel, S.A Aminu, while arguing the ex-parte application, told the court that the agency “intends to carry out a critical investigation into the unlawful activities of Babangida and others before handing them over to the Attorney General of the Federation for prosecution”.
The lawyer told the court that the involvement of the suspects in terrorist activities was complex and the bomb experts for the gang had just been apprehended based on information obtained from detainees.
Meanwhile, she requested the permission of the court to detain the suspects for 90 days after presenting a 21-paragraph affidavit ex-parte application, explaining how it obtained information that led to the arrest of the suspects in various locations and at different times.
After going through the documentary exhibits placed before the court, Justice Lifu declined to grant the 90 days requested by DIA on the grounds that the suspects had been in custody for three months.
He held that according to the Constitution, the defendants are presumed innocent until proven otherwise.
He ordered the agency to “detain the suspects till the conclusion of the investigation.”
After listening to their request, the judge ordered that the DIA should do everything within its powers and within the ambit of the law to complete its investigation into the allegations against the suspects so as not to run foul of the law.
