A Federal Capital Territory High Court in Gudu, Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the Inspector General of Police to pay N50 million in damages to the wife of the late Chief MKO Abiola, Prof. Zainab Abiola, for violating her rights.
In the judgement delivered by Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi, the court also ordered that the police must tender a public apology, which must be published in two national newspapers.
News About Nigeria gathered that the wife of the late prominent politician had in 2023 filed a fundamental human rights enforcement suit marked FCT/HC/CV/2431/2023 against the Police IG, the Nigeria Police Force, Inspector Teju Moses, and Engineer Ibrahim (son of former IGP Usman Alkali Baba) as co-defendants.
In the suit filed, Abiola told the court that the police invaded her residence in Abuja and forcefully arrested her while she was dressed in a nightgown.
She further revealed that, without any trial, the police detained and brutally tortured her for three days.
In their response, the police claimed that Abiola assaulted a female police officer and her domestic staff at her residence in the Garki area of the FCT on September 20, 2022.
They further noted that the allegations levelled in the suits by Abiola were false and the court should dismiss them.
However, in its judgement, the court held that the police were wrong for detaining Abiola for days without arraigning her in any court of competent jurisdiction, noting that it was a gross violation of her fundamental human rights.
The court also ruled that the police infringed on Abiola’s right to personal dignity by arresting her while she was in her nightgown and not allowing her to dress properly.
The judge therefore ruled that the defendant would pay the sum of N50,000,000.00 to the applicant as compensation and would also apologise to her publicly in two national newspapers for violating her fundamental human rights.
