A former Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), has justified the continued detention of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, IMN, leader, El-Zakzaky; a former National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd), contrary to several court orders.

Malami, a minister-nominee, was asked by the Senate Minority Leader, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, why the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had ignored court orders granting certain individuals bails while he (Malami) was the nation’s chief prosecuting officer.

Malami told the Senate that the Federal Government ignored the court orders in submissiveness to the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He also claimed that the individual interests of the likes of El-Zakzaky and Dasuki conflicted with the public interest.

“I concede that I had a responsibility as the Attorney General of the Federation to protect individual rights. But looking at the provisions of Section 174 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I want to reiterate and state further that the office of the Attorney General is made to protect public interest and where the individual interests conflict with public interest, the interest of 180 million Nigerians that are interested in having this country integrated must naturally prevail.

“And I think that position has been very well captured by the apex court that had stated in the case of Alhaji Asari Dokubo and the Federal Government of Nigeria that where an individual interest conflicts public interest, the latter naturally prevails,” he said.

Justice Gabriel Kolawole of the Federal High Court, Abuja, had, on Friday, December 2, 2016, ordered the unconditional release of the Nigeria’s Shi’ite sect, El-Zakzaky and his wife, Zeenah, from detention within 45 days.

The two have been in detention since December 2015 without any charge following a clash between members of their group, the IMN, and the military in Kaduna State, which reportedly led to the killing of more than 350 of the sect members.

Colonel Dasuki (rtd.), a former security adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan, has also been languishing in detention since December 2015 despite being granted bail by three different courts.

Dasuki is facing trial for alleged unlawful possession of arms and money laundering charges brought against him by the Federal Government.

He had allegedly diverted and shared to politicians and cronies, about $2.1 billion meant for arms procurement to fight Boko Haram terrorists.

Justice Adeniyi Ademola had in 2015 admitted Dasuki to bail but the bail order was disobeyed by the Federal Government and the Department of State Services (DSS).

Other bails granted Dasuki by Justices Peter Affen and Husseini Baba-Yusuf of the FCT High Court were also ignored by the government.