Court Orders IG to Pay Detained Boko Haram Suspect ₦500,000

An Abuja High Court Wednesday ordered the Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Muhammed Abubakar, to pay a suspected member of the Boko Haram sect, Mohammed Sani Sambo, the sum of ₦500,000 as compensation for illegal detention.

Justice S. C. Oriji, sitting at Court No. 16, Jabi, Abuja, handed down the order in a ruling on the enforcement of fundamental human rights filed by Wan Mohammed Shehu, on behalf of the applicant.

Court processes showed that the applicant was arrested and detained since June 13, 2012 on the suspicion that he was a member of the proscribed Boko Haram group but he was never charged to court till date.

The applicant was first detained for about three weeks in Kaduna where he was arrested at his residence at No. 14 Abdullahi Balarabe Road, KTC Layout Kawo, before he was transferred to

the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja.

The relatives said they were initially making contact with him but could not do so later.

Apart from the ₦500,000 compensation, the court also declared that the arrest and detention violated the applicant's fundamental human rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.

The court, however, declined to make an order of perpetual injunction restraining the police from further arresting or detaining him.

Joined as co-respondents in the suit were the Deputy Inspector General of Police, Zone 7 A FCT and the FCT Commissioner of Police.

Source: Punch