Deputy commissioner of police Abba Kyari has asked a Federal High Court in Abuja to grant him N500 million in damages from the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) over alleged unlawful arrest and detention.
The suspended DCP, in an originating motion on notice filed before Justice Inyang Ekwo, also sought for an order directing the NDLEA to tender a written apology to him in two national dailies.
The motion, dated February 16 and filed February 17 by his lawyer, C. O. Ikena, also sought an order “restraining the respondent (NDLEA), its agents, servants, privies, police or anyone acting on their behalf from further harassing, detaining, intimidating, arresting the applicant unlawfully.”
“An order of this court directing the respondent to pay the sum of N500,000,000.00 (Five Hundred Million Naira) to the applicant, for unlawful violation of the applicant’s constitutional right provided for in Sections 35 and 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (As Amended),” it further read.
In the motion to enforce his fundamental rights, Kyari also sought a declaration that his arrest and continued detention by the NDLEA “without bringing him before a court of competent jurisdiction from February 12 till date is illegal, unlawful and a gross violation of his fundamental rights.”
He also asked the court to, inter alia, declare “that announcing the applicant in the press without giving him right to fair hearing nor establishing a prima-facie case against him is illegal, unlawful and an infringement on his fundamental right.”
The court had earlier on Monday declined to hear his application for bail.
