A vacation judge of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Justice A. Abdullahi, sitting in Maitama, Abuja, today ordered the police to release two Bureau de Change operators, Alhaji Bello Mohammed and Bashir Ibrahim Lambo, on administrative bail or charge them in court.
The judge gave the order while ruling on an ex parte application brought before the court by counsel for the BDC operators, Sani Sajo Esq., seeking the enforcement of his clients’ fundamental rights.
Joined as respondents in the application are the Nigeria Police Force; Inspector-General of Police (IGP); Deputy Inspector-General of Police, Force Intelligence Department (FID); Deputy Commissioner of Police, IGP Monitoring Units/Police Monitoring Units; ACF Magaji Mohammed, Team Lead, IGP Monitoring Units/Police Monitoring Units; CSP Mahmud, IPO, Force Intelligence Department (FID); DSP Adamu Balangu, IGP Monitoring Units; and United Bank for Africa (UBA).
The application, brought pursuant to Sections 34 – 44 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), sought an order of the court mandating the respondents to jointly admit the applicants to bail or produce them before the court for the purpose of admitting them to bail pending investigation or arraignment.
It also sought further orders the court deems fit to make in the circumstances of the case.
In their grounds for the application, the BDC operators claimed that they are businessmen carrying out foreign currency business at Wuse Zone 4, Abuja, under the business name of Al-Nasara Bureau de Change, adding that they were invited by the police sometime in June in connection with a $600,000 transaction they carried out.
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According to them, they were detained for two days by the police before being granted administrative bail without being charged in court as required by law.
The applicants claimed that they were told that a customer had $600,000 for sale at Access Bank, adding that if they had buyers, they should bring them.
They further claimed that they later contacted A.A Rano Oil and Gas through its agent, and it eventually paid the Naira equivalent of the amount, totalling N800,000,000 for the $600,000, following due process in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) guidelines.
According to the applicants, the money was paid through UBA to Access Bank after both banks conducted their own due diligence.
They added that one month after the successful transaction, they and others were invited by the Force Intelligence Department, interrogated, investigated and detained for some days before they were later released on bail.
They, however, claimed that since July 28, they have been unlawfully in police detention without any legal justification and without being granted bail, claiming that their detention since then has been more than the 48-hour threshold allowed by the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
They added that since their detention, they were not arraigned before any court of competent jurisdiction within the period of 48 hours permitted by the Constitution.
According to them, the 1st to 5th respondents had consistently refused to admit them to administrative bail pending investigation or arraignment in court.
After listening to counsel for the applicants as he moved the application, Justice Abdullahi subsequently ordered the police to either admit the applicants to administrative bail or arraign them in court.
The judge then adjourned the case to August 17 for the police to show cause.