The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Maitama, Abuja, has adjourned indefinitely to deliver judgment in a suit challenging an earlier ban of BringBackOurGirls rallies in Abuja by the FCT Commissioner of Police, Mr. Joseph Mbu.
Justice S. E Aladetoyinbo had on June 12, 2014, adjourned for judgment after hearing the parties' opposing arguments.
Before the matter was argued and adjourned for judgment, counsel for the 17 applicants, who instituted the suit on behalf of their group, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), had dropped the prayer seeking N200m as compensation against Mbu.
Falana informed the court that his clients had instructed him to drop the prayer as "this suit is not about money."
Members of the Women for Peace and Justice, who are leading the #BringBackOurGirls rally, including a former Minister for Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, were in court on Monday for the judgment.
But they were informed by the court registrar that the judgment was not ready.
The court registrar did not give a new date for the judgment.
The other applicants in the suit are Hadiza Bala Usman, Mr. Samuel Yaga, Mrs. Rebecca Yaga, Mrs. Sarah Ishaya, Mallam Dunama Mpur, Lawan Abana, Dr. Pogu Bitrus and Dauda Iliya.
Others are Kibaku Area Development Association, Maryam Uwais, Obiageli Ezekwesili, Bashir Yusuf, Jibrin Ibrahim, Jibrin Ibrahim, Saudatu Mahdi, Bukky Shonibare, Rotimi Olawale and Florence Ozor.
The applicants and their group engage in daily protests, calling on the Federal Government to intensify efforts towards rescuing the over 200 schoolgirls abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, by the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, on April 14.
Mbu had on June 2 unilaterally banned rallies and protests relating to the abducted girls in Abuja with immediate effect.
But the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Mohammed Abubakar, later overruled him, reiterating that all Nigerians had the rights to a peaceful protest.
But at the hearing of the suit which was filed on June 3, Falana insisted that the purported directive banning rallies in Abuja, even having been reversed by the IGP, amounted to a violation of his client's rights.
He argued that the deposition of the police in their counter-affidavit, to the effect that his client's suit had been overtaken by the reversal of the purported ban, was an admission that indeed, the applicant's rights were violated.
He had said, "A Commissioner of Police cannot just say he has banned protest. That is no longer our law. It is the duty of the government to protect those who are protesting. That point has to be made by this court."
He therefore urged the court to declare the purported directive by Mbu as illegal, unconstitutional, null and void, as such had violated his client's "fundamental rights to freedom of conscience, expression, assembly and association."
These rights, according to Falana, were guaranteed by sections 38, 39 and 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Articles 8, 9, 10 and 11 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, 2004.
Counsel for the police, Mr. Samuel Lar, had opposed the suit, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit on the grounds that only the Federal High Court could entertain it.
Lar also contended that the applicants lacked locus standi to institute the suit because their umbrella body under which they sued was not recognised by law.
He added that as much as none of the applicants had a child among the abducted girls, they lacked the legal capacity to sue on behalf of the parents of the affected children.
But Falana countered Lar's contentions, arguing that all fundamental rights enforcement suits, even if the President of Nigeria was involved, could be appropriately filed at the FCT High Court, which he said had the same status like a state High Court in line with section 299 of the Constitution.
He also maintained that they lacked the legal capacity to sue, as it had been settled in 1987 by the Supreme Court decision in Gani Fawehinmi v. Col. Halilu Akilu, that every Nigerian had the right to defend the rights of his or fellow citizen.
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