An Abuja High Court
Wednesday ordered the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Muhammed Abubakar,
to pay a suspected member of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Sani Sambo,
the sum of N500,000 as compensation for illegal detention.
Justice S. C. Oriji,
sitting at Court No. 16, Jabi, Abuja, handed down the order in a ruling
on the enforcement of fundamental human rights filed by Wan Mohammed Shehu, on
behalf of the applicant.
Court processes showed
that the applicant was arrested and detained since June 13, 2012 on the
suspicion that he was a member of the proscribed Boko Haram group but he was
never charged to court till date.
The applicant was
first detained for about three weeks in Kaduna where he was arrested at his
residence at No. 14 Abdullahi Balarabe Road, KTC Layout Kawo, before he was
transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja.
The relatives said
they were initially making contact with him but could not do so later.
Apart from the
N500,000 compensation, the court also declared that the arrest and detention
violated the applicant's fundamental human rights as enshrined in the 1999
Constitution.
The court, however,
declined to make an order of perpetual injunction restraining the police from
further arresting or detaining him.
Joined as
co-respondents in the suit were the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Zone 7
A FCT and the FCT Commissioner of Police.
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