The Federal High Court in Abuja has been asked to award a damage of N2billion against the police over an alleged invasion of the home belonging to Ifeanyi Ejiofor, counsel to leader of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Ejiofor, through a suit filed on his behalf by Maxwell Okpara, is asking the court to order the payment of the money as compensation and damages for the alleged burning of his house and shooting of his aged mother by the police at his Oraifite hometown in Anambra State on December 2.
He also applied for an order of the court stopping the respondents from threatening him with arrest and torture and to compel them to retract the public notice made on December 3, which declared him wanted and to also tender an apology to him in five major newspapers and any other form of reparation.
Other respondents in the suit aside the Nigerian Police Force include: Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police, Area Commander, Divisional Police (DPO) in Anambra State, the Nigerian Army, Chief of Army Staff, Federal Republic of Nigeria and Attorney General of the Federation.
In a 37-paragraph affidavit in support of the fundamental rights enforcement suit, the plaintiff claimed that he was in his Oraifite hometown in Anambra State between November 25 and December 1, for the burial of his late brother, Reverend Louis Ejiofor.
He said further that on December 2, his house was still filled with relatives, friends and well wishers, helping him to evacuate tents, chairs and other materials used for the burial ceremony, when a group of 16 policemen allegedly invaded his house.
The affidavit, which was deposed to by his immediate elder brother, Evangelist Emeka Ejiofor on his behalf, the plaintiff said that the police claimed to be looking for suspects involved in an alleged communal clash and that he spoke on phone with the Area Commander promising that he would make himself available on same day by 11am.
He further stated that by 10.15am, the same police squad, led by the Area Commander, came ahead of the appointed time and violently invaded his ancestral home with sporadic shooting.
In the confusion that ensued, the plaintiff said that four young men were instantly shot dead while his aged mother sustained gun shot injury.
He said the dead bodies were evacuated from his house to a market place and burnt there.
He therefore, urged the court to declare the invasion of his house and subsequent shootings and killing of unarmed civilians as barbaric, wicked, illegal, oppressive and a gross violation of his rights to life, dignity of human person, personal liberty, fair hearing and right to private and family life as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.
Meanwhile, a date has not yet been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
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