FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHTS: Court Orders Police To Pay N1m Damages To Victim

Justice Halilu Yusuf of the High Court in the Federal Capital Territory has ordered the Nigeria Police Force to pay a sum of N1m as damages to one Mr. Mark Sani over illegal detention for seven days without trial which was in breach of his fundamental human rights as enshrined in Section 35(6) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal republic of Nigeria.

The court admitted that under the law, the Police has a duty of arrest on citizens on apprehension of crime, nevertheless, the person must be charged to the court within a reasonable time as specified by law adding that in the present case in issue where the accused was arbitrarily detained for two days and five days by the Police and Special Anti-Robbery Squad respectively was inconsistent to fundamental human rights available to all citizens.

Sani had told the court through his counsel, Mr. Chinedu Akubue that Paul Udofia, the first defendant purchased the piece of land situated at Lugbe, in Abuja with a legal title from the Abuja Municipal Area Council prior to its subsequent revocation by the Federal Capital Territory Authority, FCTA.

He also informed the court that when the first defendant approached him with accusation of selling land with defective title to him, he explained the development in details and informed him that the government had promised to re-allocate another land in replacement to them following a meeting between the then Minister of the FCT, Bala Mohammed and all the affected land owners who also specially appealed to them for patience due to bureaucracy in government.

He stated that to his greatest amazement, Udofia reported the matter to the Police despite all his factual explanations which eventually arrested and detained him, and deprived him of bail despite the fact that the documents on the land were genuine and intact.

Delivering the judgment, Justice Yusuf berated the Nigeria Police Force for disregarding the law of the land, instead adopting arbitrariness against the citizen’s welfare who both the law and the Police were the major objects. He therefore ordered that the plaintiff be compensated with N1m as damages by the Force.