Court Orders Substituted Service On Ex-PAP Administrator In N300m Detention Suit

The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ordered a substituted service to be served on the immediate past interim Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Major General Barry Ndiomu (rtd), over a N300m unlawful detention suit filed by a popular Bayelsa blogger, Mienpamo Onitsha Saint.

The order favoured the Mienpamo Onitsha Saint (Applicant) for a Motion on Notice for the Enforcement of the Applicant’s Fundamental Human Rights over the Nigerian Police Authorities’ alleged 23-day unlawful detention in 2023.

The court ordered that, the court documents should be posted at the home of the former PAP administrator,
Gen. Barry Ndiomu, at Bekebor Quarters, Odoni, Sagbama LGA, Bayelsa State by means of substitution as the 6th defendant in the lawsuit.

Mienpamo, who is the publisher of the online news medium Naija Live TV, was arrested in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, on October 10, 2023 and was taken to the Force Headquarters by detectives from the Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID) over some alleged reports against the former interim administrator.

The blogger, who claims to have been unlawfully detained, had petitioned the court for N300 million in general damages, citing a violation of his fundamental human rights as guaranteed under Sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) and Articles 6 and 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

The respondents in the suit filed by a legal firm, Terhemba Gbarsima and Associates in Abuja, are the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Force Criminal Investigation Department (FCID), NPF, National Cyber Crime Centre, DCP Uche Henry, Mr Simiat Suleiman, CSP B A. Abdullahi, and former Interim Administrator, Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), Maj.-Gen. Barry Ndiomu is the 6th.

Mienpamo is seeking a declaration that his detention in the facilities of FCID Area 10, Garki, Abuja from October 11 2023 till the day of filing the application was a violation of his right to dignity of his human person and right to personal liberty protected by Sections 34(1)(a) and 35(1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended and therefore unreasonable and unlawful.

Meanwhile, Justice Nwite also at the resumed hearing and trial in a separate suit numbered FHC/ABJ/CR/492/2023 between the Inspector-General of Police as the complainant and Mienpamo Onitsha Saint as the defendant ordered the release of vital personal belongings of the Bayelsa news blogger.

The presiding judge’s order came after an application was made by the defendant’s lead counsel, Benjamin S. Ogbara, Esq, over the reluctance of the Nigeria Police to release vital personal belongings of the Bayelsa news blogger.

Ogbara told the court that the items identified as personal belongings include an iPhone XR, a Tecno Android phone, a gold wristwatch worn during his recent marriage, a power bank, two cordless microphones, phone stabilisers, a Novena University identification card, passport photographs, two bank tokens of Zenith and GTbank, and a purse.

Justice Emeka Nwite, after hearing from the two counsels, ordered that the belongings that would not be used as exhibits be released immediately. However, after 112 days since Justice Emeka Nwite issued the order on September 24, 2024, the Nigeria police have yet to comply with the directive to release Mienpamo’s personal belongings.