A similar lawsuit was pending before an FCT High Court, according to Justice Inyang Ekwo's ruling in the suit that sought the release of Maina, who was jailed.
According to Justice Ekwo, it is an abuse of the legal system to file separate lawsuits against the same parties concurrently in several courts, even when the reasons for each action differ.
As a result, the judge concurred with the DSS and its Director-General (DG) that the current case, designated FHC/ABJ/CS/2090/2022, and the fundamental rights action filed on November 4, 2022, before Justice A.Y. Shafa of the FCT High Court, marked CV270/2022, were comparable.
It is evident from this that the applicant gave in to pressure to file separate lawsuits for the same parties concurrently in various courts, despite the fact that the grounds for each action varied.
"The applicant could have easily avoided this situation by choosing one of the legal remedies available to him, exhausting that remedy before pursuing another, and presuming that the principle of res judicata would not apply to the subsequent action."
As a result, in cases where a lawsuit is determined to be an abuse of the legal system, no other factors should be taken into account.
He said, "This is the order of this court. It is on this premise that I make an order dismissing this case for being an abuse of process of court."
Maina had sued the DSS and its DG as first and second respondents in the original motion dated Nov. 22, 2022.
The petitioner requested an order requiring the respondents to bring him before the court so that it may investigate the circumstances leading to his ongoing imprisonment from September 19, 2022.
In accordance with Sections 32(3), 32 (1) and (2), and 158 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, as well as Section 36 (4) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and other current statutes, Maina also requested an order admitting him to bail.
Maina, who identified himself as "a law-abiding citizen of Nigeria," provided six reasons for why his reliefs should be granted. He claimed that he was detained on September 19, 2022, by DSS officials at an Abuja Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) branch on suspicion of committing an unspecified offense.
According to him, the respondents' arrest of him was done in blatant violation of constitutional rules that require law enforcement to prosecute a suspect in court within 24 or 48 hours.
However, the security group contended that the lawsuit amounted to a misuse of the legal system, having brought a comparable lawsuit before a different court.
The DSS claimed that on September 12, it received information from its Borno Command about plans to transfer N10 million to help one Kaura (FNU), the terror group's armorer, move some members of Jama'atu Ahlus-Sunnah Lid-Dawa'awati wal Jihad, or Boko Haram, from Borno to a Boko Haram camp in Kaduna State.
According to the report, after more research, it was discovered that, in order to make the money transfer easier, Boko Haram commanders Bayero (FNU) and Baba Guraba (FNU) near the Bama Local Government Area (LGA) in Borno were asked for their bank account numbers by Kaura (FNU).
The organization disclosed that Bayero (FNU) sent a GTB account number, 025264587, belonging to Maina, and a United Bank for Africa (UBA) account number, 2196498467, belonging to a person named Basiru Hassan.
While N6 million was deposited into Hassan's account, it was claimed that N4 million was paid into Maina's account. According to intelligence reports, Kaura (FNU) ordered that the withdrawals and transfers be made using Point of Sale (POS) operators.
"Kaura (FNU) deposited a single N2 million initial installment into the applicant's GTB account, 0025264587.
"The Borno State Command of the First Respondent sought and obtained the orders of the court to flag the said account numbers by placing a Post-No-Debit (PND) order and requested that the account holders be apprehended whenever sighted," the statement stated, based on the intelligence collecting activities.
According to the DSS, Maina was detained on September 19, 2022, at GTB, which is next to the National Mosque in the Central Business District of Abuja, when he went to find out why he was unable to withdraw the money that had been deposited into his account.
"On reasonable suspicion of being involved in providing of facilities in support of terrorist acts, financing of terrorism, dealing in terrorist's property and his alleged roles in the facilitation of the migration and/or relocation of terrorists within Nigeria," the agency claimed that Maina was immediately apprehended and taken into custody.
It said that after looking into the matter, it was found that Maina was not a law-abiding citizen but rather "acts as a courier and a facilitator to the terrorist group Boko Haram."
It further claimed that he was properly advised of his alleged offenses in accordance with legal regulations upon his arrest.
It also claimed that because of the seriousness of the alleged offense, it was not possible to make the applicant's detention public so as not to interfere with a fairly progressive investigation to capture additional terrorists who were already en route to Kaduna and other neighboring states.
The DSS said the lawsuit was an abuse of the legal system, calling Maina "a flight risk" who would jump bail if granted administrative freedom.
It begged the judge to throw it out.