A Plateau State High Court sitting in Jos on Tuesday ordered the Special Task Force on security, to release on bail, two suspects currently in its custody.
Justice Daniel Longji gave the order while ruling on a bail application brought before the court by the counsel to the suspects persons, Gyang Zi.
In his ruling on the bail application, Longji described the continuous detention of the two suspects as “unconstitutional, abnormal and unfair’’.
The two suspects – Zakka Dung and Joel Sunday – were arrested by members of the task force on January 26, 2019, while playing football at Sabom-Barki, in Jos South Local Government.
The duo had, since then, been in the custody of the STF.
He said: “My heart bleeds for this country. It is scary. It is sad to see people or agencies that are supposed to be responsible for protecting the laws of the land, breaking the laws.
“I have to grant this bail for the two suspects because the task force has refused to charge them to court or release them. That situation forced them (suspects), to file a case against their continuous detention without trial.
“The suspects approached the court seeking for bail over a crime or crimes they claimed they did not know nothing about. They have not been told their offence since their arrest on January 26.
“It has been difficult to have the task force accept service for this case until we routed it through substituted service. Even after that, the STF refused to show appearance before this court up till date.
“Since the security outfit refused to appear before me and explain why the suspects are being detained for this long, I have no option than to grant them bail in accordance with section 35 (1)(4) of the 1999 constitution.
“STF is a military outfit which thinks it is above the law. We don’t have arms, but we have mouths. Bail is hereby granted to the suspects in the sum of 100,000 and a surety each.
“I hereby condemn the action and attitude of the STF and hope that such unconstitutional act won’t be repeated.”
Zi had told the court that the suspects were allegedly playing football, with other friends, at a football field at Sabon Barki, in Jos South Local Government on January 26, 2019, when the personnel of the STF swooped on them and arrested them.
He said that since their arrest, the task force had refused to charge them to court and even after they (suspects) filed a case against their illegal detention, the STF refused to show up and did not send any representation.