Lawyers
to the pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere, on Tuesday filed an
application at the Federal High Court, Abuja, over the 21 people arrested by
the Nigeria Police in connection with the crisis between some indigenous Ife
people and Hausa-Fulani settlers in Ile-Ife, Osun State, and requested for N1
billion damages.
Afenifere,
in the suit no: FHC/ABJ/CS/S/3/2017 with a 10-paragraph declaration in the
originating summon, said: “The sum N1,000,000,000 damages for the unlawful and
unconstitutional arrest and detention of the applicants individually and
collectively; for the psychological and emotional trauma that their families
are being subjected to for almost one months and for the unlawfully parading
them as common criminals without filing any charge against them talk less of
trial or conviction.”
It
also prayed the court to declare their arrests as illegal and unconstitutional,
adding that their arrest was “an unlawful violation of the applicants
constitutionally guaranteed and protected right to dignity of human person and
presumption of innocence under sections 34 and 36(5) of the Constitution of the
Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (As Amended) for the respondents, either by
themselves or through their agents, officers, howsoever described, to parade
the applicants as common criminals to both print and electronic media houses,
when they have not been charged to court and convicted of any criminal
offence.”
Source:Tribune
Tags
Society