A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigeria Police
Force to pay a N15 million fine to seven suspected Boko Haram members over
their unlawful detention for three years without trial.
The suspects, who were said to have been arrested inside a
Maiduguri market in Borno, were allegedly dumped at the detention facility of
the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) at Abbatoir in Abuja.
Justice M.O Olajuwon in a judgment on their fundamental
human rights enforcement suit held that detention of the detainees for three
years without trial contravened the provisions of the 1999 constitution on
human rights.
The judge said that the police acted in bad faith in keeping
the detainees beyond the period required by law especially when there was no
cogent and verifiable ground of indictment of the applicants for any offence.
Justice Olajuwon, while holding that the detention was
illegal, unlawful, and unconstitutional consequently ordered that the seven
applicants be released forthwith to their families.
He ordered that each applicant be paid a sum of N2 million
as damages for their unlawful detention and another N10 million as the cost of
litigation that brought about the judgment.
Counsel to the applicants, Mr. Peter Aboh praised the judge
for ordering the immediate release of his clients.
He said that the detainees were unjustly labelled as Boko
Haram suspects by police to justify the unlawful detention.
The lawyer revealed that an Abuja-based Non-Governmental
Organization, Dayspring Life Foundation, stumbled on the victims while in
detention and took over the sponsorship of the litigation free of charge to
rescue them from the claws of police and unlawful detention.
The applicants are Ajiri Bulama Dungus, Gudja Giddah, Adam
Mohammed, Wardi Dungus, Fanami Mustapha, Mohammed Abba, and Makinka Alhaji
Dungus.
At the time of this report, the court registrar was
preparing a warrant for their release.
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