Buhari’s Government To Challenge Igboho’s N20Billion Human Rights Win,Set To File Fresh Charges

The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, has stated that the Nigerian government may pursue further charges in response to Sunday Adeyemo, aka Sunday Igboho’s court triumph.

An Oyo State High Court on September 17 granted a relief sought by the Yoruba Nation activist and ordered the Nigerian government to pay him N20 billion for violating his rights.

The court also dismissed an application filed by the Attorney-General of the Federation, challenging its jurisdiction to hear allegations against Nigerian government agencies.

Reacting to the judgement, Malami told the News Agency of Nigeria in New York, United States that the Nigerian government had the right to appeal the judgement or file a fresh charge.

He was quoted as saying, “As far as this matter is concerned, which court is it that has the jurisdiction to determine it? And as you rightly know, obedient to court orders and court judgments.

“But then you have to understand within the context of such obedience that there are associated rights and interests that are vested in the Federal Government.

“Inclusive of rights of appealing against a judgment, inclusive of the right to file an application for setting aside the purported judgment and order.

“And indeed, inclusive of the possibility of filing a fresh action if indeed the jurisdiction of the court that was alleged to have indeed handed that judgment is an issue.

“So, we are doing the needful in terms of looking at the law as it exists and then working within the context of the law in ensuring that justice is done as far as the contending issues between the parties are concerned,” the minister explained.

Igboho, through his lawyer, Yomi Alliyu, had filed a suit challenging the invasion of his house in Ibadan, Oyo State on July 1 by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), also known as the State Security Service (SSS) or secret police.

Igboho sought an order of the court to declare the invasion of his residence by DSS operatives as illegal and an infringement on his fundamental human rights.

The three respondents are the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Malami (SAN), as the first respondent, SSS as the second respondent and Director of SSS in Oyo State as the third respondent.

Counsel for the AGF, Abubakar Abdullahi had filed an application challenging the ability of a state High Court to hear the activities of Nigerian government agencies.

But citing several judgements by the Supreme and Appeal courts in respect of the ability of the state high court to hear such cases, Justice Ladiran Akintola said the invasion of the house of the applicant violated his fundamental human rights as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.

“Unfortunately, this court is not a Father Christmas and cannot award the sum of N500 billion as requested by the applicant but the court retrained the respondent from arresting or harassing the applicant. He has right to his free movement as contained in section 35.1 (a)(b) of the 1999 constitution as amended,” he said, awarding him N20 billion in damages.