Former Imo commissioner files suit against police over illegal arrest, detention

Tuesday, December 03, 2024 - A former Commissioner in Imo State, Dr Fabian Ihekweme, has filed a N5 million lawsuit against the Nigerian Police Force before a Federal High Court in Abuja over alleged gross violations of his fundamental human rights.

In the suit marked Suit No. FHC/ABI/CS/1809/2024, the plaintiff seeks an order of perpetual injunction restraining the police from further arrest, detention, intimidation, assault and harassment over frivolous and unsubstantiated allegations concerning his fundamental rights to freedom of expression.

He also wants an order of the court compelling and directing the defendants to immediately release or grant him bail, pending investigation or charge him to court, as stipulated in sections 35(4) and (5) and 36 (1) of the 1999 Constitution.

He is seeking a declaration that his arrest on November 28 in Abuja in a Gestapo manner by the police in Imo State constitutes an infringement of his fundamental human rights and that his continuous detention by the police amounts to a violation of his fundamental human rights.

He equally wants the court to declare that denying him access to his team of lawyers by the police since November 28 when he was arrested in Abuja and taken to Owerri violates his fundamental human rights and thus award him N5 million as damages against the police for alleged harassment, assault, and illegal detention.

An affidavit of urgency deposed by the wife of the plaintiff, Mrs Ihekweme Excel Fabian, said the plaintiff is managing a severe health condition and his continuous detention without access to medicare will worsen his health condition and endanger his life.

“That the applicant is now suffering double jeopardy of unlawful detention and an imminent health risk that could endanger his life,” she averred and further stated the constitution provides for rights to a fair trial within a reasonable time.

She said the applicant ought to have been released on administrative bail or charged to court at least two days after his arrest, as provided by the Constitution and stated that the conduct of the respondents is arbitrary, illegal, unconstitutional, harsh, oppressive and void.