How Court Dismissed N2 Billion Suit By Alleged Igbo Deportees

The Federal High Court in Lagos yesterday dismissed suit filed by some Igbo men and women who claimed they were allegedly forced out of Lagos.

Justice Musa Kurya entered judgment in favour of Lagos State Government.

 He held that the suit lacked merit and the allegations could not be substantiated. The applicants: Rosemary Nathaniel, Friday Ndukwe, Grace Igbochi, Ugulori Tutua, Chinyere Nicholas, and Osondu Mbuto, had sued the state for themselves and on behalf of 77 others and sought the enforcement of their rights.

Joined as respondents in the suit are were Lagos State Government, its Attorney General and the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State command. They had sought a declaration that their arrest, remand and forceful deportation from Lagos to Onitsha in 2012, on the ground that they were non-indigenes of Lagos was a violation of their personal liberty and freedom of movement.

The applicants had prayed the court to declare that such alleged action of the Lagos State Government was a violation of Sections 35, 41(1) and 42 of the Constitution, and Articles 6,12, 2 and 28 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

They also asked the court to award damages in the sum of N2 billion against the Lagos State Government and its agents, for breach of their rights. The applicants had also sought for an order of the court compelling the respondents to tender a published apology to them in at least three widely circulating national dailies.