A high court in the FCT has halted the arrest of Mr. Faruk Adejoh-Audu, the spokesman for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi State, by Commissioner of Police Bethrand Unuoha.
Additionally, the high court’s order restrains the Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of the Department of State Security (DSS), and the Director of DSS for Kogi State.
Adejoh-Audu, who asserted that the defendants posed a grave threat to his life, obtained a restraining order against the security officers, which will remain in effect until the final decision of a motion on notice in an action to enforce his fundamental human rights.
Unuoha publicly warned the spokesman to anticipate certain unnamed consequences following a disagreement between the two over election issues; as a result, veteran journalist, activist, and politician Adejoh-Audu went to court.
On November 29, 2023, the SDP Spokesperson accused the police chief of working with thugs to undermine his party’s interests in the recently held Kogi governorship election.
But the next day, during a news conference in Lokoja, the police commissioner issued a 24-hour ultimatum to Adejoh-Audu, telling him to “be ready to face the consequences of his actions” unless he could provide evidence to support his claims.
In response, the SDP spokesman had provided a 17-paragraph document in which he had justified his claims.
After hearing from O. U. Salifu, the lawyer representing the SDP spokesman in an ex parte application, Justice Hamza Muazu of the Federal Capital Territory High Court issued a restraining order prohibiting the arrest or interference with the applicant’s liberty by the Inspector General of Police, the Director-General of the DSS, the Commissioner of Police for Kogi State, and the State Director of the DSS.
The hearing of the motion on notice has been postponed until December 18, 2023, by the court.
Mismob Media