Human rights abuse: Chedi, Rabo demand N100m from FG
From KABIRU YUSUF,Abuja

AS the case filed by the Kano state government over the arrest of the Commander-General of its Hisbah Corps, Malam Yahya Farouq Chedi and his deputy, Abubakar Rabo came up yesterday at the Federal High Court Abuja, where the state government asked the Court to declare their arrest of February 8, 2006 and their subsequent detention as unlawful.
The plaintiffs were arrested in Kano on February 8, and brought to Abuja at midnight and detained for running and managing an unlawful organization, the Hisbah, which was established by the Kano state Government.
In his submission before Justice Babs Kuewumi the counsel of the applicants, Malam Yusuf O. Ali (SAN) prayed the court to award N50m damage to each of the plaintiffs against the federal government that ordered their arrest and detention.
Similarly, Yusuf Ali (SAN) prayed the court to order the Federal government to render public apology to the plaintiffs for the unlawful arrest which, he said, contradicts the provision of the Cconstitution.
He said that since March 2nd, 2006 when the fundamental human rights case was filed asking for reliefs, the respondents has not done much in response to the suit except their four paragraphs counter affidavit which he said supported the plaintiffs case.
He said that where a citizen approaches the court that he was unlawfully detained by the authority, the onus lies with the arresting authority to show that there were reasonable grounds for the arrest and detention.
He said that it was not enough for the respondents to state that the presence of the plaintiffs in Kano was generating problems adding that no mayhem reported over the activities of Hisbah from any part of the state and nobody reported any wrong doing from Hisbah members.
He submitted that the Hisbah laws which established the organization that the plaintiffs work for have not been found by any court to contradict existing laws and the applicants were operating under the law promulgated by a state assembly and accented by the state governor.
He also said that the respondents’ averment that they are still investigating was not tenable because the law did not permit arrest before investigation pointing out that the arrest and detention of the plaintiffs contradict the law of the land which requires the law enforcement agents to finish their investigations before arresting any accused person.
The counsel further said the respondents have failed woefully to justify the infringements which he said violate Section 36 Sub-Section 4,5,6 of the 1999 Constitution.
Barrister Yusuf explained that “the law enforcement agencies that made the arrest acted on the one way facts which means that the arrest and the detention is unconstitutional”.
The plaintiffs’ counsel therefore, submitted that the plaintiffs’ arraignments in a separate matter cannot exonerate the respondents from the damage.
After hearing from the Kano state Counsel, the presiding judge, Justice Babs Kuewumi, announced that the matter has been adjourned till February 13th, 2007 to allow the federal government that was not present at yesterday’s hearing to reply.