Court orders police to pay N15m fine for detaining Boko Haram suspects
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria Police Force to pay a sum of ₦15m million to detained Boko Haram suspects.
Justice M.O Olajuwon while ruling on the detainees’ application for the enforcement of their fundamental human rights, held that the criminal suspects were unlawfully detained by the police.
The Judge ordered that each suspect be paid by the police a sum of ₦2 million as damages for their unlawful detention and another ₦10 million as the cost of litigation that brought about the judgment.
“The detention of the suspects for three years without trial contravenes the provisions of the 1999 constitution on human rights.
“The police acted in bad faith in keeping the suspects beyond the period required by law, especially when there was no cogent and verifiable ground of indictment of the applicants for any offence.
“Their detention was, therefore, illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional and it is hereby ordered that the seven applicants be released forthwith to their families,” the court ruled.
Periscope International recalls that the suspected terrorists, namely, Bulama Dungus, Gudja Giddah, Adam Mohammed, Wardi Dungus, Fanami Mustapha, Mohammed Abba, and Makinka Dungus, were apprehended at a popular market in Maiduguri, Borno State capital three years ago.
They were allegedly whisked away to Abuja and dumped at the detention facility of the defunct Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) at Abbatoir in Abuja without trial in violation of their human rights.
Reacting to the ruling, the counsel for the suspects, Mr. Peter Aboh, disclosed that it was an Abuja-based Non-Governmental Organization called Dayspring Life Foundation that stumbled on the victims while in detention.
He said that the organization took over their case including the sponsorship of the litigation “free of charge to rescue them from the claws of police and unlawful detention.”
Aboh applauded the judge for ordering the immediate release of his clients, stressing that they were unjustly labelled as Boko Haram suspects by police to justify their unlawful detention.
