A Federal High Court in Lagos has dismissed a N2bn fundamental rights enforcement suit filed against Lagos State by 83 Nigerians of Igbo extraction, who alleged forceful deportation to Anambra State sometime in 2013.
The applicants had alleged that Lagos State Government arrested them and transported to Onitsha against their consent in July 2013 on the ground that they were not indigenes of the state.
They had therefore gone to court seeking a declaration that their said alleged arrest, remand and forceful transportation was a breach of their rights to personal liberty, freedom of movement and freedom from discrimination.
The applicants, Rosemary Nathaniel, Friday Ndukwe, Grace Igbochi, Ugulori Tutua, Chinyere Nicholas, Osondu Mbuto and 77 others, were praying for damages in the sum of N2bn against Lagos State.
According to their counsel, John Nwokwu, the alleged action of Lagos against the applicants violated Sections 35, 41(1) and 42 of the Constitution.
The alleged action was also argued to violate Articles 6,12, 2 and 28 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap., A9 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.
But Justice Musa Kurya, in a judgement delivered on Friday, held that the applicants failed to substantiate the alleged deportation.
The judge aligned with the argument of the Lagos State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye, that the state government did not own or operate any detention centre or prison facility at Ikorodu, where the applicants claimed to have been detained.
The court said it believed Ipaye’s submission that the applicants were rescued from different parts of the state while they were begging for alms, living under bridges, by the roadsides, and engaging in other social vices with no discernible means of livelihood or physical address in Lagos State.
The judge therefore dismissed the suit without awarding cost against any of the parties.
“I did not find any substance in the case of the applicants. Consequently, judgement is hereby entered in favour of the respondents against the applicants with no cost awarded to either party “Justice Kurya held.Read more
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