By Kolawole Ojebisi
A Federal High Court in Kaduna has ordered former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, to pay a sum of N900m as damages for what it described as “arbitrary arrest and detention” of nine elders from the Adara community, Kajuru LGA.
This judgement comes six years after the incident happened and three years after a lawsuit was filed to address the purported injustice by one of the Adara elders.
Delivering a judgement in on Tuesday, Hauwa’u Buhari, the presiding judge, ruled that El-Rufai orchestrated the arbitrary arrest and detention of the plaintiff and therefore liable for the N900 million compensation.
The judge also ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), the Kaduna commissioner of police and the Nigerian Police Force (NGF) to pay N10 million as general and special damages to the plaintiff.
Recall that on March 22, 2024, Awema Dio Maisamari, one of the elders and a former president of the Adara Development Association (ADA), filed a suit for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.
According to the lawsuit, Maisamari demanded an order for compensation over the violation of his right to dignity, injury to personal and business reputation, gross loss of business earnings and leadership opportunities totaling N2.3 billion following his illegal arrest and detention.
Maisamari’s suit followed El-Rufai’s, then Kaduna governor,
This suit followed the order given to the police during his reign as Kaduna governor in 2019 to arrest Maisamari and eight other Adara elders over the allegation of being behind the crisis in Kajuru LGA, where bandits were attacking the communities.
Adara is one of the ethnic groups in southern Kaduna.
After 43 days in detention without trial, the Adara elders were released on March 30, 2019.
The former Kaduna governor was reportedly served the legal suit through substituted means.
He did not appear in court and was not represented by a counsel.
