Court orders police to unseal Peace Corps’ office, pay N12.5m damages
AFederal High Court in Abuja yesterday ordered the Nigeria Police to pay the sum of N12.5m damages to the Peace Corps of Nigeria over the violation of the rights of its officials.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole also directed the police and the Department of State Services (DSS) to unseal the national headquarters of the Corps at No 57 Iya Abubakar Crescent off Alex Ekwueme Way, opposite Jabi Lake, Jabi, Abuja.
The judge further ordered the security agencies to “desist to prohibit in any manner, applicants’ staff and members the right of access into and out of the premises in any manner.”
The orders were contained in the judgement on the fundamental rights suit filed by the counsel to the Peace Corps of Nigeria, Kanu Agabi (SAN) following the February 28, 2017 raid of the offices of the corps and the arrest of the members in the 36 states of the federation.
The judge held that the sealing of the offices, and the arrest and harassment of the officials violates their rights to acquire movable and immoveable property under Sections 34, 35, 40, 41 and 43 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999.
However, on reliefs one and eight wherein the corps sought a declaration that the officials committed no offence to warrant their arrest and an order of perpetual injunction to restrain the police from further sealing its offices, the judge held that “the court cannot prospectively tie the hands of the respondents from performing their statutory duties where there are genuine and reasonable grounds to believe that an offence may have been committed by all or any of the applicants in this suit.”
The Incorporated Trustees of the Peace Corps of Nigeria and its National Commandant, Ambassador Dickson Akoh had in the suit demanded the sum of N2 billion in damages against the Police, the Attorney General of the Federation, National Security Adviser and the Department of State Services (DSS) over alleged invasion of the organisation’s office in Abuja and arrests of its members.