Photo: First Lady Aisha Buhari, left, and Zainab Kassim, her estranged ex-PA
Buhari’s wife’s former PA drags her to court seeking N100m damages
A former Personal Assistant to Nigeria’s First Lady, Mrs Aisha Buhari, has dragged the latter to court for abducting and assaulting her in the Presidential Villa.
The plaintiff, Mrs Zainab Kassim, served as Mrs Buhari’s Personal Assistant for four years from June 2015 to September 2019.
She was later appointed as Special Assistant to the President, Office of the First Lady, from September 2019 to February 2022, before she was disengaged.
Mrs Kassim’s lawyer, Deji Ajare, in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja said his client filed the suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja.
According to him, the former presidential aide’s suit is for the enforcement of her fundamental rights against Mrs Buhari.
He claimed that his client was abducted by operatives of the State Security Service, SSS and taken to the presidential villa, where she was physically assaulted by the First Lady.
Mrs Kassim is demanding damages in the sum of N100 million from the First Lady and the return of her Note 20 Ultra Mobile Phone which was seized from her.
The Director-General of the SSS and the Inspector-General of Police are joined in the suit as co-defendants.
The processes filed in the court, sighted by Periscope International, read in part, “On 18 November, 2022, acting on the orders of Mrs. Aisha Buhari, DSS officers abducted Mrs. Zainab Kassim and took her to the Presidential Villa where she was severely assaulted, dehumanized and abused by the first lady herself and officers of the DSS and Police, on unsubstantiated accusations of deleting the first lady’s posts on social media.
“Mrs. Kassim was eventually detained in very horrible conditions for four (4) days and she was denied access to her family, lawyers and to her medications even though she informed them that she was hypertensive. In the course of her incarceration, she fainted and had to be rushed to hospital for medical treatment.
“Even after her release, persons acting on behalf of the first lady have continued to threaten and harass Mrs. Zainab Kassim not to attempt to seek redress in court over the breach of her rights by the first lady.”
The plaintiff/applicant therefore prays the court to grant her the following prayers:
A DECLARATION that the abduction, arrest and detention of the Applicant between 18th of November, 2022 and 22nd of November, 2022, and the threat to further arrest and detain the Applicant by agents of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents on the orders and directives of the 1st Respondent, without an order of Court is unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, null, void and constitutes a violation of her rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.
A DECLARATION that the torture, brutalization and dehumanization of the Applicant by the 1st Respondent and agents of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents, on 18th of November, 2022 is unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal and constitutes a violation of her right to dignity of human person.
A DECLARATION that the threats by the agents of the 2nd and 3rd Respondents to the Applicant, of further abduction, arrest, detention and assassination of the Applicant if she brings any claims for fundamental rights enforcement against the Respondents is unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, constitutes torture and a violation of her rights to life, fair hearing and dignity of human person.
AN ORDER restraining the Respondents either by themselves or their agents or subordinates from further abducting, arresting, detaining, torturing or threatening to abduct, arrest, detain or assassinate the Applicant or otherwise violating the fundamental rights of the Applicant.
AN ORDER directing the 2nd Respondent to release the Applicant’s Note 20 Ultra Mobile Phone to her immediately.
DAMAGES, jointly and severally against the Respondents, in the sum of N100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira) only.
