BREAKING: Court Orders Immediate Release Of Alleged IPOB Member Illegally Detained For 7 Months, Awards N50million To Victim
The Federal Capital Territory High Court, sitting in Abuja’s Gudu Judicial Division, has handed down its decision in a basic rights case challenging Mrs. Ngozi Umeadi’s illegal incarceration, torture, and continuous detention since February 2021.
Umeadi’s arrest and continued detention by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Intelligence Response Unit, previously led by suspended Deputy Police Commissioner Abba Kyari, was declared illegal and a gross violation of her fundamental human rights by Justice Modupe Osho-Adebiyi on Thursday.
The court further ordered her immediate and unconditional release from custody, as well as exemplary and aggravated damages against the police in the amount of N50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million Naira Only) as recompense.
The court also ordered that the police issue an unconditional apology to Mrs Umeadi, which would be published in two national daily.
In August, SaharaReporters alleged that the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team, then led by Kyari, now suspended, extorted at least N1 million apiece from seven suspected Indigenous People of Biafra members (IPOB).
The seven suspects were among more than 50 people apprehended in raids across the Southeast.
The IPOB suspects were raided by the Kyari-led team between March and June 2021, hauled away to Abuja, and held at the notoriously known as “Abattoir” former Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad headquarters in Abuja.
According to one of the lawyers handling the inmates’ cases, the police squad led by Kyari extorted between N1 million and N1.5 million each from the defendants who were later released.
Those who couldn’t pay the bribes were kept in cages, including four married ladies, it was discovered.
Mrs Ngozi Umeadi, a nursing mother arrested at a hospital in Onitsha (Anambra State) where she was receiving postpartum treatment, is one of those women.
Speaking on the judgement, counsel for equally detained Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the IPOB, Ejiofor Ifeanyi, noted, “We shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that the terms of this judgment are carried out to the letter.
“We shall also be speedily following up on prompt compliance with these terms of judgment, while other pending applications affecting others still in this category are being addressed in court. Do not lose hope.
“However, be assured that justice can only be delayed but not denied. All persons illegally arrested and still being detained by the lawless Nigerian security agencies shall get justice.
“We are not relenting. We shall give further update on the outcome of today’s visit to our indefatigable client-Mazi Nnamdi Kanu once the visit is concluded. The future is very bright indeed.
“With your understanding and prayers, we shall surmount all the unsurmountable using the extant judicial and civil process. God is with us. Thank you and God bless.”
