A trader, Anthony Okolie, has sued the Department of State Services (DSS) and Hanan Buhari, daughter of President Muhammadu Buhari, and telecoms firm, MTN, for N500 million.
Mr Okolie was detained for 10 weeks after his arrest on July 19, 2019, in Asaba, Delta State, for using a telephone line that was previously owned by Hanan.
The 33-year-old filed the suit before the Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State, through his lawyer, Tope Akinyode.
The suit, with number FHC/ASB/CS/3/2020, is seeking an order to “compel the respondents (DSS, Hanan and MTN) jointly or severally to pay the applicant the sum of N500,000,000 only as general and aggravated damages for the gross and unlawful violation of the applicant’s right to acquire moveable properties, freedom of movement and self-dignity.”
Okolie said in the suit that he was detained with handcuffs until September 22, 2019, as the DSS waited for Hanan, who was schooling in the United Kingdom, to come and clear him but she never did.
The trader also attached the receipt he was issued after purchasing the SIM card as well as the SIM certificate.
According to the affidavit, he bought the SIM card on December 8, 2018, with phone number, 09035666662, for the sum of N1,000.
Okolie asked the court to declare that his long detention was an abuse of his fundamental human rights and that the actions of the DSS contravened sections 35 and 34 of the 1999 Constitution.
