Femi Falana, human rights Lawyer, has called for the release of Abdulrasheed Bawa, the EFCC chairman who is still in custody the custody of the DSS.
The Department of State Services (DSS) detained Bawa in their custody in Abuja.
Bawa, who has been in the DSS’s custody for 67 days as of June 14, 2023, is under investigation for potential financial misconduct.
However, Falana, in a statement issued on Sunday in Lagos, said the remand order for Bawa has expired, insisting the DSS has no legal grounds to continue to detain him.
The statement partly reads: “In view of the fact that Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa has not been charged with any criminal offence whatsoever, the State Security Service ought to have released him from custody. I am not unaware of the claim that Mr. Bawa is being detained on the basis of a remand order issued by a Magistrate Court in the Federal Capital Territory.
“It ought to be pointed out that the remand order has become spent, invalid, and illegal as no magistrate has the power under Section 493 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, or Section 35 of the Constitution of Nigeria to authorise the detention of a criminal suspect for 67 days without trial.”