45A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Nigerian Government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu to facilitate the immediate release of 270 Nigerians currently imprisoned or detained in Kaliti Prison, Ethiopia.
This order was granted by Justice Inyang Ekwo, via an order of mandamus compelling the Ministry of Foreign Affair and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission to reduce Nigerians currently in the Ethiopian prison.
“I find that the applicants have made a credible case for this court to issue Order of Mandamus to compel the 1st and 2nd respondents to perform their statutory functions and I so hold,” the presiding judge was quoted by the News Agency of Nigeria.
The order of mandamus was granted by the court following a motion on notice filed by Sunday Mmaduagwu, Henry Anyanwu and Leonard Okafor.
The applicants had sued NIDCOM, Foreign Ministry, Senate, House of Representatives, Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN) and the Attorney-General of Federation (AGF) as 1st to 6th respondents respectively, on behalf of Nigerians imprisoned in Ethiopia prison.
The motion was brought pursuant to Order II, Rules 1, 2 & 3 of the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009 (hereinafter referred to as FREPR 2009) and Sections 6 (6), 34 (1), 35 (1), (4), and (6), 36 and 46 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Also cited in the suit was Articles 4, 5 and 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap. A9, LFN 2004 (hereinafter referred to as ACHPRRE Act 2004) and under the inherent jurisdiction of this court.
They sought “a declaration that the fundamental rights of the applicants as provided by Sections 33, 34, 35 of the 1999 Constitution; Articles 2, 3, 5, 6, CAT — Articles 4 (1) & (15), Article 16 UNUDHR; Articles 3, 5, 6, 25 (1) & (2) BPT — General Assembly Resolution 45/11 of 14 Dec 1990 had been violated by the 1st — 4th respondents”.
They sought an order “compelling the 1st & 2nd respondents to receive and return Nigerians imprisoned, detained in Kaliti Ethiopia prisons, consequent upon the decision and declaration of Ethiopian Government that they have no budget for their food, firewood, medicine and any other form of welfare and on the face of their call for Nigeria to take them back to Nigeria.”
In the affidavit in support of the motion, Mr Mmaduagwu deposed that he is the first cousin of Remigius Anikwe, who was imprisoned at Kaliti Prison in Ethiopia.
He said Henry is a brother of Chinedu Anyanwu, who is also detained or imprisoned in Kaliti Prison, while Leonard is a relative of Okafor Livinus Edochie, who is being detained in the same prison.
Mr Mmaduagwu averred that since he arrived in the prison to see his cousin, he met over 270 Nigerians arrested and detained.
He said some of the persons in the prison were not even tried as they do not understand the language, adding that they were not offered the services of an interpreter.
According to him, the treatment being given to Nigerians in detention is shocking as any exchange of words with the indigenes will attract mass beating, and this has led to the collapse and death of some inmates.
Mr Mmaduagwu said, “Some young Nigerians who were on transit with visa are reported to have been arrested, dispossessed of their money and valuable property and false witnesses suborned to testify against them in a foreign language.
“Many are detained and denied the opportunity of proper hearing by any court and till date, they do not know the reason for their arrest. They are also denied access to their families, the outside world and even the services of a lawyer, making their family assume they are dead.
“Some of them had to admit offences they did not commit after prolonged torture by the prison officials.”
He alleged that NiDCOM, in a television interview, even stated that what the detained Nigerians in Kaliti Prison were given as food should not be fed to rats.
He said the commission attested to the fact that they were not given any drugs for sickness, except paracetamol, despite people suffering from kidney failure with swollen legs.
He said, “A lot of them are dying and they were informed by the prison officials that the Ethiopian government has asked the Nigerian Embassy to take their people back having no budget to feed them and provide medical aid.
“Every week, about two or three deaths are recorded. They have not been buried neither have their corpse been brought to Nigeria.”
Mr Mmaduagwu, who said that the respondents were aware of the citizens’ plights, urged the court to grant the reliefs sought.
The judgement was delivered on November 14.
Mr Ekwo said he observed that the application was brought on behalf of Nigerian citizens detained and imprisoned abroad.
The judge held that the motives of the applicants were not unreasonable as it’s rationally expected that a citizen of a country who is abroad and who needs the intervention of their country of origin will expect the requisite succor from the home country when occasion arises for such.
He said, “The 1st and 2nd respondents cannot be allowed to argue their way out of their respective statutory functions.”
He further held that the applicants had made a compelling case in the suit that Nigerian citizens who were detained and imprisoned in Kaliti Prison, Ethiopia by the Ethiopian government required the intervention of NIDOM and the ministry.
The judge, who ordered the ministry and NIDCOM to receive and return the imprisoned Nigerians home, refused to grant their 1st relief seeking a declaration that the detained Nigerians’ rights had been breached by the respondents.
