LAGOS – Wives and relations of some Nigerians detained by the authority of Nigerian Navy have pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari and the Nigerian Navy to release their husbands and relations said to have been arrested and taken to unknown location since September 2018.
In a statement addressed on behalf of the people by a civil society group, Centre Against Impunity in Lagos, disclosed that 22 Nigerians were arrested by officials of Nigerian Navy in September, 2018 and had since been incarcerated despite court judgment asking for their immediate release.
Comrade Shina Loremikan, the centre’s director, said the Nigerian Navy officials in September 2018, descended on the premises of Captain Labinjo, arrested him alongside the wife, thereafter, the 22 crew members of the ship were arrested and detained.
He declared that the detained, after approaching the Federal High Court for an order enforcing their fundamental rights which was granted, the Nigerian Navy had refused to obey the court order.
In a judgment presided by Justice C.J. Aneke delivered on March 11, 2019, the court ruled, “A declaration that the arrest and detention of the applicants by the respondents constitute a violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights as guaranteed under Sections, 35, 41, 44 and 46 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and its therefore illegal and unconstitutional.
“A declaration that the continued detention of the applicant since September 12 and 14, 2018 respectively by the respondents constitute a violation of the gross violation of the fundamental rights of the applicants as guaranteed under Sections,35, 41,44 and 45 of the federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) as therefore illegal and unconstitutional.
“An order compelling the respondents whether by themselves or by their officers, agent or privies, to forth with release the applicant, Mr Adeline Jumbo and her crew members.”
The court, therefore, ordered the Nigerian Navy to pay the sum of N1 million as general damages for the breach of the fundamental rights of applicants.
The centre, in the statement, expressed disappointment in the alleged refusal of the Naval authorities to allow the detainees access to their solicitors and doctors after several attempts in a democratic dispensation.
Speaking on the continuous detention of the their husbands, Mrs. Helen Yakubu, one of the wives of Hamza Yakubu, Chief Engineer of the Adeline Jumbo vessel, said that her husband had been hypertensive and his continuous detention without access to his doctor could worsen the condition.
She urged the Naval authorities to charge the accused to court if they found anything incriminating against them.
She said: “I am surprised this thing is happening under a democratic system of government which is meant to protect the rights of the people.”
She further stressed that the continuous detention of the husband had caused untold hardship to the family as she could not afford to take care of the children, who she lamented, had been out of school.
Yakubu, who said the Presidency, was aware of the matter, appealed to President Buhari to intervene in the matter.
The post Release Our Husbands, Wives Of Detained Nigerians Beg Buhari, Navy appeared first on Independent Newspapers Nigeria.
Source: Independent
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