An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Jacob Solomon Agada, has petitioned the chief of air staff (CAS), Air Marshall Hassan Bala Abubakar, over alleged unlawful arrest, detention and torture of his client’s workers in Abuja by some Nigerian Air Force (NAF) personnel over a land dispute.
The disputed land is a subject of litigation before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The land in dispute is said to be between one Jibril Ibrahim and Stats Global Homes Ltd on one side and Alhaji Manir Lawal and three others on the other hand, with the suit now pending before Justice Othman Musa of High Court No 7 of the FCT.
Agada said that despite the pendency of the suit, marked FCTHC/CV/3844/2024, a group of Air Force personnel led by the Provost, Nigeria Air Force Camp, Mogadishu Barrack, Asokoro, Abuja, Flight Lieutenant Hussein Habib Denja, unlawfully dabbled in the property dispute by invading and forcefully abducting workers of his client, Stats Global Homes Ltd, the second plaintiff in the suit.
In the petition received by the office of the Chief of Air Staff on July 25, the said Flight Lieutenant Hussein was alleged to have taken side with Alhaji Manir Lawal with the arrest of his Clients’ workers twice and taken them to unlawful custody.
Agada alleged that the said Provost engaged in gross abuse of office on July 22 when he led a team of armed Air Force personnel and several young Air Force officers and invaded the premises of his Client’s property, purportedly acting on the prompting of Alhaji Manir Lawal, the first defendant in the pending court case.
The lawyer claimed that without any lawful justification or judicial backing, the said military personnel forcefully invaded his client’s property at plot 1317 and 1328, Extension I11 B Layout, Kubwa, Bwari Area Council, FCT-Abuja, arrested three staff members and bundled them to the Air Force facility at Mogadishu Barracks for unlawful detention.
He said that while efforts were being made to secure the release of the three workers, the same Flight Lieutenant Hussein Habib Denja in company of one Flight Lieutenant A. A. Abdulahi, a regular officer in Charge of Regiment Personnel, came back with additional troops and forcefully abducted two other unarmed workers and brutally assaulted them.
Agada claimed that the last two abducted workers, Omeje Usman Eneojo and one Sunday are currently on admission at Kubwa General Hospital, where they are receiving treatment for severe injuries inflicted on them during the unlawful assault.
He pleaded photographic evidence of attacks against the workers and their medical reports to establish the case of unprofessional conduct against the Air Force personnel.
The lawyer therefore demanded a full-scale probe into the alleged unprofessional conduct of the personnel with a view to fishing them out for sanctions.
He also demanded a sum of N300 million compensation for the victims of the unlawful arrest and detention as well as public apologies.
The lawyer threatened to take legal action against NAF if it refused to meet the victims’ demands within seven days of receiving the petition.
