A PRO-DEMOCRACY non-governmental body- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), has expressed dismay over the seven weeks long detention in EFCC custody of a serving Colonel Nicholas Ashinze without charge in the competent court of law.

Colonel Nicholas Ashinze from Delta State was the special military assistant to erstwhile National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki (rtd) reportedly facing multiple charges in different courts over alleged financial infractions concerning the alleged misappropriation of $2.1 billion security votes domiciled in his office.

The civil society organization said during a media briefing that it is wholly and substantially unconstitutional, undemocratic and illegal that a Nigerian citizen could be so detained by a law enforcement agency for a prolonged period without either filling charges or granting bail to such a person. The group said the Nigerian constitution has clearly stated in section 36(5) that an accused person remains innocent in the eye of the law until proven guilty by a competent court of law just it is stated that even if these is a legal provision granting this abysmal length of pre-trial detention of a citizen that provision is ultra-vires and unconstitutional because it is inherently in conflict with the clear provisions of the constitution in chapter four.