The IGP, NSA and SSS, also known as Department of State Services (DSS) and the AGF are the 1st to 4th Respondents.
A human rights activist, Akande Daniel Babatunde, has filed a lawsuit against the Inspector General of Police, National Security Adviser (NSA), State Security Service (SSS), and the Attorney General of the Federation, challenging his ongoing detention by security forces.
The IGP, NSA and SSS, also known as Department of State Services (DSS) and the AGF are the 1st to 4th Respondents.
Daniel, a member of the Solidarity Network for Workers’ Rights, was reportedly by police officers and DSS agents during a church service in Abuja on September 1, 2024, and has been held without charge since then.
The activist, who marked his 32nd birthday last Monday while in detention, was reportedly arrested over his involvement in the #EndBadGovernance protests, which took place from August 1 to August 10, 2024.
The protests were part of a nationwide movement calling for better governance and an end to economic hardship in Nigeria.
In the case with suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1345/2024, filed on September 11, 2024, at the Federal High Court in Abuja, Daniel is seeking the enforcement of his fundamental rights to personal liberty and freedom of expression, as enshrined in Sections 34 and 39 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution.
His legal team argues that his arrest and continued detention without being brought before a court of law violate his constitutional rights.
Daniel is asking the court to declare his arrest and detention unlawful, order his immediate release, and award him ₦300 million in damages for his wrongful imprisonment.
He is also seeking an injunction to prevent further harassment or detention by security agencies.
The suit reads, "A DECLARATION that the arrest and detention of the Applicant by officers of the 1st-3rd Respondents, on the 1st of September, 2024 while he attended church service on the grounds that he participated in the protest against bad governance in Nigeria, constitutes a gross violation of the Applicant's rights to peaceful assembly, dignity of human persons, right to personal liberty, right to freedom of expression and press, right to freedom of movement and right to freedom of association, as guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
"A DECLARATION that the continuous and unlawful detention of the Applicant by officers of the 1st - 3rd Respondents at the 1st Respondent's detention facility located at the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, Guzape, Abuja, without presenting him before a court of competent jurisdiction amounts. to a violation of his fundamental rights as guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).
"A DECLARATION that the 4th Respondent, as the chief law officer of the Federation, has a responsibility to safeguard the Applicant's fundamental human rights.
"AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Respondents to immediately and unconditionally release the Applicant from the 1st Respondent's detention facility at the Intelligence Response Team of the Nigeria Police Force, Guzape, Abuja, or any other detention facility where he is being kept.”
He is also seeking an order of the court “mandating and compelling the Respondents to produce the Applicant before this Honourable Court to enable the Court inquire into the circumstances constituting grounds of his arrest and detention on the 1st of September, 2024 till date and where it deems fit, admit the Applicant to bail”.
He is also seeking an “order of perpetual injunction restraining the Respondents, jointly and/or severally, their agents, servants, privies and/or any other person whosoever acting on their instructions from threatening, inviting, arresting and/or further detaining the applicant or interfering with his fundamental rights to peaceful assembly, dignity of human persons, right to personal liberty, right to freedom of expression and press and right to freedom of movement as guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), except in pursuance to an order from a court of competent jurisdiction”.
He is asking the court to direct “the Respondents jointly and severally to pay the Applicant the sum of N300,000,000.00 (Three Hundred Million Naira) only as general, exemplary and aggravating damages for their unlawful and continued detention since the 1st of September, 2024 till date, as well as the violation of their Fundamental Human Rights to personal liberty, right to freedom of association, right to dignity of their person and freedom of movement, as guaranteed under chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended)”.
The suit reads, "The Applicant is a law-abiding citizen of Nigeria who enjoys the protection of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), particularly the provisions of Sections 35(4), Section 36(5), Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and Section 32 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2015.
"On the 1st of September 2024 the applicant was arrested and detained by officers of the 1st to 3rd Respondents while in church on the grounds that he participated in a peaceful protest seeking for the Government's intervention on the recent hikes in the cost of living in Nigeria, which was held from the 1st day of August 2024 to the 10th August, 2024.
"The Applicant has since the 1st day of September, 2024, been at the 1st Respondent's detention facility located at the Intelligence Response Team office of the Nigeria Police Force, Guzape, Abuja.
"Despite having previously notified the 1st to 4th Respondents of the proposed 'end bad governance' protest and despite having conducted himself peacefully during the course of the protest, the Applicant was arrested by officers of the 1st to 3rd Respondents and subsequently detained at the 1st Respondent's detention facility located at the Intelligence Response team office of the Nigeria Police Force, Guzape, Abuja
"Since the Applicant was arrested by officers of the 1st to 3rd Respondent on the 1 of September 2024, all efforts by the Applicant's lawyers, friends and family to get access to the Applicant or secure their release has proved abortive.
"The 4th Respondent, as the chief law officer of the federation has failed and or refused to direct the 1st to 3rd Respondents to release the Applicant.
"The continuous detention of the Applicant without arraigning him before a court of competent jurisdiction constitutes a serious breach of their fundamental human rights as guaranteed under Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria."