Court Orders Police To Pay Peace Corps N5m Over Illegal Detention

A federal high court in Gombe has ordered the Nigeria Police Force to pay N5 million as damages to officers of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) for arresting and detaining them illegally.
The arrest and detention carried out at Gombe Airport in November last year was declared in illegal, unlawful, unconstitutional and breach of the fundamental rights of the plaintiffs by the court.
The men had gone to the airport to receive the National Commandant of the Peace Corps Dickson Akoh who was in the state for a zonal consultative meeting.
The Peace Corps and 9 of its officials led by the Gombe State Commandant Bararebe Alhassan had sued the Police for enforcement of their fundamental rights and N250m compensation for their unlawful arrest and detention by Police without any justification.
Giving judgment in the case of breach of fundamental human rights instituted against the Inspector General of Police, Justice Babatunde Kadiri said that the action of police was barbaric and uncivilized.
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had in April last year restrained the State Security Service (SSS) and the police from disturbing, arresting or intimidating men of the Peace Corps of Nigeria (PCN) from operating as a lawful registered civil security outfit.
Justice Evon Chukwu subsequently awarded N10 million damages against the SSS and the police for violating the fundamental rights of the Peace Corps men to free association. The two security agencies were to pay the Peace Corps men N5 million each