…aides sue DSS, seek N100m compensation
The Department of State Services (DSS), yesterday, told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that its case-file was stolen by criminal elements, popularly known as “one chance’’.
The DSS said the case file contained the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the 12 associates of Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho.
When the matter was called yesterday, counsel to DSS, Mr Idowu Awo, said the file, which contained the court processes served on the DSS by the aides, was stolen from a member of the service legal team.
Awo said the “one-chance’’ thieves snatched the case-file from his colleague, who unknowingly boarded their vehicle.
The judge, Justice Obiora Egwuatu, however, ruled that the case file be returned to the registry for reassignment to a regular court.
Meanwhile, the 12 associates of Yoruba nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho, have instituted a rights enforcement suit against the Department of State Services (DSS) for parading them before the media as criminals.
They filed the suit on Wednesday before Justice Obiora Egwuatu of the Federal High Court who presided as a vacation judge while the court is on recess.
In the suit, Igboho’s associates sought a declaration of the court that their detention beyond 48 hours and their media parade without a court conviction, constituted a breach of their fundamental rights.
They also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining the DSS from interfering with their personal liberty and freedom of expression.
Similarly, the applicants prayed for an order granting the sum of N100 million for aggravated and exemplary damages against the security outfit, for what they termed a serial breach of their constitutional rights.
But the DSS lawyer, Idowu Awo, told Justice Egwuatu during the proceedings that his case file was stolen from a member of the legal team who was meant to bring it to the court.
According to him, his colleague in question boarded a vehicle on Tuesday belonging to criminal elements, known as ‘one chance’, to whom she lost her personal belongings and the case file.
With the annual recess of the court ending soon, Justice Egwuatu ruled that the file of the fundamental rights suit be returned to the registry for reassignment to the regular court.
On July 1, there was tension in the Soka area of Ibadan as a result of the early-morning firefight at Igboho’s house.
Hours after the incident, the DSS issued a statement in which it said it was a raid by a joint team of security operatives.
It alleged that Igboho and others had plotted to wage a violent insurrection against the Nigerian State, calling on the Yoruba Nation agitator to turn himself in, at the nearest security agency.
Igboho’s associates were later paraded and detained until eight of them were released by the DSS on August 30, after about two months in detention.
The security agency had, however, kept four others in custody, although the court granted bail to all 12 persons.
Last Friday, the DSS released two more aides of Igboho, bringing the total number of those that have left its custody to 10.
