BY QUADRI SALIU
Detained leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, has sued the Nigerian Government N5bn damages in compensation for his physical, mental, emotional and psychological trauma in the hands of the Department of State Services (DSS).
Kanu is requesting through his Counsel, Aloy Ejimakor to asked the High Court of Abia State to compel the Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN); the Department of State Services and six others to pay him N5bn in damages
He also questioned the abuse of his human rights, seeking an order from the High Court of Abia State to serve by substituted means an application for enforcement of his fundamental rights.
In the suit, no HIH/FR14/2021, the respondents include the Federal Government of Nigeria (1st), Attorney General of the Federation (2nd), Chief of Army Staff (3rd), Inspector General of Police (5th), Director General, State Security Services (7th) and three others.
The reliefs place before the court includes: “A declaration that the expulsion of the Applicant from Kenya to Nigeria by the Respondents or their agents and their consequent detention and planned prosecution of the Applicant in Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 (Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamdi Kanu) is illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and amount to infringement of the Applicant’s fundamental right against unlawful expulsion and detention, and to a fair hearing, as enshrined and guaranteed under the pertinent provisions of CFRN and the Charter).
“An order restraining the Respondents or their agents from taking any further step in the prosecution of the Applicant in Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 (the Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamdi Kanu) pursuant to said unlawful expulsion of the Applicant from Kenya to Nigeria.
“An order mandating and compelling the Respondents or their agents to forthwith release the Applicant from detention and restitute or otherwise restore Applicant to his liberty, same being his state of being as of 19th June 2021; and to thereupon repatriate the Applicant to his country of domicile (to wit: Britain) to await the outcome of any formal request the Respondents may file before the competent authorities in Britain for the lawful extradition of the Applicant to Nigeria to continue his prosecution in Charge No: FHC/ABJ/CR/383/2015 (the Federal Republic of Nigeria v. Nnamdi Kanu).
“An order mandating and compelling the Respondents to issue an official Letter of Apology to the Applicant for the infringement of his fundamental rights, and publication of said Letter of Apology in three (3) national dailies.
“An order mandating and compelling the Respondents to pay the sum of N5,000,000,000.00 (Five Billion Naira) to the Applicant, being monetary damages claimed by the Applicant against the Respondents jointly and severally for the physical, mental, emotional, psychological and other damages suffered by the Applicant as a result of the infringements of Applicant’s fundamental rights.”
Justice K. C. J. Okereke set September, 21 as the next hearing date.
The PUNCH had earlier reported that Malami at a press briefing in Abuja on June 29, 2021, announced that the IPOB leader was arrested in a foreign country and extradited to Nigeria.
Kanu, who was born on September 25, 1967, is a holder of Nigerian and British passports. He had earlier jumped bail in June 2018 before leaving for the United Kingdom though he said that he fled because his life was no longer safe in Nigeria.
Upon his re-arrest and extradition in June 2021, he was re-arraigned before Justice Binta Nyako for terrorism-related charges and has since been remanded in the DSS custody in Abuja.
Justice Nyako did not attend to the prayer of Kanu’s lawyers that the court should grant a pending application before it to transfer Kanu from the custody of the DSS to a correctional centre in Abuja.
Justice Nyako had adjourned the trial of Kanu to October 21, 2021, for the continuation of the hearing.
