By Lukman Olabiyi
A housewife, Mrs. Ebere Okonkwo and her two-year-old daughter, Amanda okonkwo have slammed N100 million suit against the Inspector General of Police, Usman Baba, and the Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Echeng Echeng, for alleged unlawful detention of her husband.
Mrs. Okonkwo and her daughter dragged the duo before the Federal High Court, Awka, Anambra State, for alleged continuous detention of their breadwinner, Chidubem Okonkwo, who has been in custody for over six months.
The detainee, according to his wife, who is a member of the Tricycle Owners Association of Nigeria (TOAN), Awka branch, was arrested by the police on March 15, and paraded for being a cult member.
The plaintiffs raised three issues for determination by the court. The issues are: “Whether the defendants are right to have arrested, detained and kept the detainee in their custody since March 15, 2022, till date, without allowing them access to their daddy?
“Whether the defendants are right to have arrested, detained and kept the detainee in their custody, since March 15, 2022, till date, without charging him to court as required and provided for by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
“Whether if this court finds that the defendants have acted wrongly and contrary to the express provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), the court would make such orders and issue such directives to the defendants to forthwith produce the said Mr. Okonkwo for the purposes of releasing him forthwith and unconditionally to the plaintiffs.”
In their prayer before the court, Mrs. Okonkwo and her daughter prayed the court for a declaration that the arrest and the continued detention of Mr. Okonkwo by the defendants at Awka, Anambra State, since March 15, 2022, till date without releasing or charging him to court as provided for by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) is wrong and unconstitutional.
The plaintiffs also prayed the court for an order directing the defendants to forthwith produce the said Mr. Okonkwo, and to release him immediately and unconditionally to them.
Besides, the plaintiffs also asked for an order directing the defendants to pay N100 million as general damages for the illegal detention of Mr. Okonkwo since the March 15, 2022 till date, and the wrongful deprivation of the rights of the claimants to access and the consortium of their husband and father.
In addition, both the mother and daughter asked the court to direct the defendants to pay the total sum of N2,000,000 as the cost of the claimants’ solicitor’s fee for the prosecution of the proceeding.
The suit was supported with a 23-paragraph affidavit deposed to by Mrs. Okonkwo, detailing the ordeals of her husband.
The affidavit read in part: “I know that on March 15, 2022, on the orders of Mr. Eworo Echeng, the second defendant in this case, my husband was picked up by some police officers for an undisclosed offence, while he was on duty at the park, in the presence of his colleagues, and taken away to the state Police Command Headquarters, Awka, Anambra State and detained indefinitely.
“I know that my husband was thereafter paraded on March 16, 2022, in the presence of newsmen and the general public, which was widely recorded and publicized in the print and electronic media and the internet, with the Commissioner of Police and Mr. Tochukwu Ikenga, the Police Public Relations Officer, visibly present and in-charge and the video of the parade together with the publication could be downloaded with ease from the internet.
“That during the parade with some other suspects whom the second defendant openly and excitedly referred to in his public broadcast as members of a cult group, my husband, Mr. Chidubem Okonkwo was seen throughout raising his hand in protest; that he was not a cult member and does not know anything about the allegation for which he was being paraded among others, which protest was dutifully ignored, and no reference was ever made to his exact offence.”