A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, on Thursday quashed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed before it by the leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
In the suit, the detained IPOB leader accused the Department of State Services (DSS) of rights violation.
In a judgment by the presiding judge, Justice James Omotosho, held that Kanu’s suit lacked merit, having failed to substantiate claim that his rights were violated by the DSS.
The judgment pertained to the suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/482/2022 and had the Director General of DSS, DSS and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) listed as respondents.
Kanu had claimed among others, that he was subjected to different inhuman treatments, including being denied his rights to wear any clothes of his choice like the Igbo traditional attire called “Isi-Agu,” while in their custody or any time he appeared in court for his trial.
He also claimed that while the DSS allowed other detainees the freedom to choose and wear any clothes of their choice, he was made to be wearing just a single pair of clothing.
Delivering his judgment, Justice Omotosho noted that the right to human dignity is enshrined in Section 34 of the Constitution, adding that it was clear that a right to human dignity is related to the right against torture, inhuman treatment, among others.
The judge reckoned that Kanu’s case did not relate to torture or forced labour because there was no evidence before the court that he was ever tortured while in custody.
Justice Omotosho held that the right to dignity did not include the right to change clothes as an inmate in a prison.
He added: “The applicant cannot come to court to seek rights which are not in the constitution.”
The judge noted that the applicant failed to provide the photographs and names of inmates, who were allowed to wear different attires while in custody.
Justice Omotosho held that the onus was on Kanu to prove his case, noting that he merely relied on bare facts without any evidence, describing the applicant’s claims as “a hypothesis without concrete evidence.”
Meanwhile, the Presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) Peter Obi in the February 25 election has described the wave of insecurity buffetting the South East geopolitical zone as ‘criminal activity’.
Obi, a former governor of Anambra State, said that the sit-at-home directives in the troubled south-east remain the work of a criminal enterprise.
In a statement on Thursday posted on his official Twitter page, Obi said the sit-at-home orders have been denied by the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).
He, however, called on security agencies to take urgent steps to deal with the heightened insecurity and crime across the country.
Obi said: “The situation in the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau state has raised a lot of anxiety because of the number of lives and properties lost with very little resistance from security operatives.
“Also disturbing is the continued disruption of business and social activities in the SouthEast region over the Sit-at-Home directive purported to be coming from the Indigenous Peoples of Biafra, IPOB, when the body has publicly denied issuing such directive.
“What is going on in the South East therefore is essentially a criminal activity that must be nipped in the bud, with all hands being on deck, security agencies, and the people alike.
“The South East Governors are to be commended for their renewed efforts at curbing this menace but there is a need to be more strategic and intelligence-driven in our approach to reducing the suffering of innocent people.
“Security agencies should take necessary and quick steps to arrest the ugly incidents because the country cannot just be spilling the blood of innocent citizens.
“We as a people through our various governments should up our value for human lives in the way and manner we respond to issues that touch lives.
“The implications of an insecure environment for development are far-reaching because no investor will consider going to an area where their resources will not be safe and secured.”
However, social activist and former Presidential aide, Reno Omokri, has slammed Peter Obi for absolving the IPOB of any responsibility in the ongoing reign of fear and insecurity in Igboland.
Omokri also berated the Labour Party Presidential candidate for posturing as the spokesperson of the proscribed Indegenous People of Biafra, when he should have condemned the sit-at-home, and the insecurity and loss of lives and livelihoods it is causing.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) supporter made this known on Thursday through his social media page while reacting to Obi’s statement absolving IPOB of responsibility in the Sit – at – Home directives and the attendant destruction of properties, disruption of business activities and loss of lives.
Omokri stated, “Peter Obi should never have released that tweet where he absolved IPOB of responsibility for the ongoing sit-at-home in the Southeast. From the bottom of my heart, this is not a jibe. This is a heartfelt message of concern. Peter ought to have condemned the sit-at-home, and the insecurity and loss of lives and livelihoods it is causing, and stopped there. By absolving IPOB of responsibility, he postured himself as if he was their spokesman.
“Obi may be right or wrong. But let IPOB speak for themselves. IPOB has a spokesman. Let the fellow do his job. It is not in the best interest of a politician aspiring to be Nigeria’s President to speak for a separatist body.
“Peter should be as far away from IPOB as Tinubu is aloof of any Yoruba separatist movement. Let another person say it. Not you. Not you! You are too big for that. Or at least, you should be.
“If I were Peter, I would sack whoever counselled him to issue that tweet. Because his denial of IPOB’s responsibility would not be believed by an average Nigerian. Even Obidients from geopolitical zones other than the Southeast will not believe it. In short, it was just unnecessary. The only people it helped are IPOB.”
