Nigeria Police Chief, Five Others Sued for N10bn over Alleged Rights Abuse

The Inspector General (IG) of Police and five others have been slammed with a N10 billion human rights enforcement suit for allegedly breaching the fundamental human rights of two investors in the country.
The plaintiffs, Ibrahim Shehu Tenimu and Jemima Monosoko Shehu, who claimed to be Directors with an indigenous Paz Oil Nigeria Limited, had dragged the defendants before the Federal High Court in Abuja, over alleged breach of their rights.
Those sued alongside the IG were the Nigeria Police Force; Commissioner of Police in Kwara State Command, Superintendent of Police Sadiq Sule; Dr. Kamoru Yusuf, and his Company, Kam Steel Integrated Limited as 1st to 6th defendants respectively.
The main grouse of the two plaintiffs was that Yusuf, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Kam Steel Integrated Company, was allegedly using the instrumentalities of police to breach their fundamental rights without due process of law.
Specifically, they claimed that Yusuf, the 5th defendant in the suit, was using police through the State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of Kwara State Command to intimidate, harass, witch hunt and oppress them and their family members over a pure civil transaction.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1278/2023, was instituted by Akintoye Balogun, against the defendants on behalf of the applicants.
The suit has been listed before Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja but no date has yet been fixed for hearing.
The applicants are seeking amongst others, “A declaration that the serial acts of intimidation, incessant invitations and persistent threats of the 1st to 4th respondents (the Police) to invite, witch-hunt, arrest, detain, embarrass and humiliate them on the alleged prompting and instigation of the 5th Respondent (Dr. Kamoru Yusuf), amount to a violation of their fundamental rights as enshrined in sections 35, 37, 39, and 41 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“A declaration that the serial acts of intimidation, incessant invitations and persistent threats of the 1st to 4th respondents to invite, witch-hunt, arrest, detain, embarrass and humiliate the applicants herein, on the prompting and instigation of the 5th respondent, over civil transactions between the applicants and the 5th and 6th respondents is illegal, unlawful, wrongful, unconstitutional and constitute a blatant violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights as enshrined in sections 35 to 37, 39, and 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
“A declaration that the violent invasion, viet armis of the 1st applicant’s residence at Plot 1, Ibrahim Shehu Tenimu Close, Gwarimpa, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, by operatives of the 1st to 4th respondents at the instigation of the 5th respondent, on the 1st and the 2nd of August 2023 to arrest the 1st and 2nd Applicants, without a warrant or a court order to that effect, is ultra vires the powers of the respondents is illegal, unconstitutional and constitutes a violation of the applicants’ fundamental rights to privacy and dignity of human person as guaranteed by sections 34 and 37 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.
“A declaration that the applicants are entitled to a public apology and adequate compensation from the respondents as provided for in sections 35 (6) and 46 (1) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as altered, Sections 314 (1) and 323 (1), (2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015, for the blatant violation of the Applicants’ fundamental rights, over a civil transaction.”
They applied for an order of perpetual injunction to restrain the respondents from the continuous invitations, witch-hunting, arresting and attempts to arrest, detain, embarrass and humiliate them.
They prayed for an order directing the respondents jointly and severally, to pay them a sum of N10 billion only as exemplary damages for the wanton and grave violation of their fundamental rights without following the due process of the law.

Meanwhile, no date has been fixed for hearing of the suit by Justice Olajuwon.

Alex Enumah

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