The Inspector General of Police has been directed by a High Court in Gudu, Abuja, to compensate Prof Zainab Abiola, the wife of the late Chief M. K. O Abiola, with N50 million in damages for the infringement of her fundamental rights.
Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi, in her delivered judgment, has also mandated the police to issue an apology to Prof Zainab Abiola in two national newspapers.
Abiola had initiated a fundamental human rights enforcement suit, bearing the mark FCT/HC/CV/2431/2023, against the Inspector General of Police (IG), the Nigeria Police Force, Inspector Teju Moses, and Engineer Ibrahim (son of former IGP Usman Alkali Baba).
She alleged that in 2022, police officers invaded her Abuja residence, arrested her while she was in a nightgown, and took her to the station.
Abiola claimed that she was detained and subjected to torture for three days without trial.
However, the respondents, disputing knowledge of her, argued that her allegations were false. According to the Certified True Copy of the judgment seen on Thursday, Justice Osho-Adebiyi ruled that the defendants’ detention of Abiola without bringing her before a court of competent jurisdiction for trial grossly violated her right to personal liberty.
The judgment partly read, “ It is hereby declared that the detention of the applicant from the 20th day of September 2022 to 23rd September 2022, without arraigning her before a court of competent jurisdiction is a violation of the applicant’s right to personal liberty under Section 35 of the constitution and is therefore unlawful and unconstitutional.
“It is further declared that the arrest of the applicant by the defendants in her nightgown without giving her the opportunity to dress decently is an infringement of her right to personal dignity. It is more debasing and a further infringement of her right to personal dignity when applicant was paraded in her nightgown. In the circumstances, the sum of N50,000,000.00 only is awarded to the applicant as compensation against the first, second and fourth respondents jointly.
“The respondents are hereby ordered to tender a public apology to the applicant in two of national daily newspapers in pursuance of the provisions of Section 35 (6) I of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”
The police leveled accusations against Abiola, alleging that she assaulted a female police officer, Inspector Teju Moses.
The alleged assault reportedly occurred on September 20, 2022, at her residence in the Garki area of the FCT, involving both Abiola and her domestic staff, Rebecca Enechido.