A leader of Vigilante Group of Nigeria and a Fulani community chief in Auchan, Ikara local government area of Kaduna State, Babangida Jibrin and Yahaya Alhaji Abubakar, have sued the inspector-general of police (IGP), Kaduna State commissioner of police and one superintendent of police Waziri Sada for alleged unlawful detention.
The applicants through their lawyer, Yakubu Musa, sought for N10 million compensation before the Kaduna State High Court for alleged unlawful detention and incarceration.
The Kaduna High Court 4 headed by Justice Isa Aliyu, had in January given an ex-parte order to the three respondents to charge the two applicants to court or release them on bail, pending the determination of the motion on notice.
However, when the case came up for hearing yesterday, counsel to the respondents, Barr. Sirajo told the court that the two applicants had since been charged to court for alleged conspiracy, kidnapping and culpable homicide, from where they were sent to be remanded at the Kaduna Correctional Centre.
The defendants’ counsel was however unable to give details about the applicants, the date they were charged to court and when they were sent to the correctional centre on remand.
On the other hand, counsel to the applicants, Barr. Yakubu Musa said, they approached the court to seek for justice for the applicants, because their fundamental human rights have been infringed upon. “We are claiming over N10 million because they (applicants) have been in incarceration since October, 2022,” he added.
He said, “The defendants’ counsel just informed the court that the applicants had been charged to court, without showing any proof like the First Information Report (FIR) to show the charges against the applicants.”
One of the relatives of the applicants Jibrin Abubakar, Yahaya Yusuf alleged that the said charges of kidnapping and culpable homicide against his brothers, were mere attempt to cover-up the unlawful detention of the duo and extortion of their family members to the tune of N1.37 million by the police through SP Waziri Sada.
Yusuf told journalists that the N1.37million was collected from the applicants’ families in three instalments of N730,000, N270.000 and N370,000 by Sada.
The case was adjourned to March 23, 2023 to allow the defendants’ counsel to properly file their response to the applicants’ motion on notice and give room for the applicants’ counsel to know the exact location of his clients.
