Alhaji Aliyu N. Salihu V. Suleiman Umar Gana & Ors (2014)

LawGlobal-Hub Lead Judgment Report – COURT OF APPEAL

HABEEB ADEWALE OLUMUYIWA ABIRU, J.C.A.: (Delivering the Leading Judgment)

This appeal is against the ruling of the High Court of Kaduna State in Suit No. KDH/KAD/493M/07 delivered by Honorable Justice AbdulKadir A Othman on the 29th of November, 2011. The Appellant commenced an action in the Lower Court under the Fundamental Right (Enforcement Procedure Rules and he prayed for:

i. A declaration that the arrest and detention of the Applicant on two occasions by the tenth and eleventh Respondents on the instigation of the first to the ninth Respondents on the 8th of November 2007 from 4.00pm to 8.00pm and 17th of November 2007 from 3.00pm to 7.30pm without any lawful justification is a violation of the Applicant’s fundamental rights to dignity of his human person under section 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

ii. A declaration that the incessant disruption of the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) by the first to the ninth Respondents not being members of the Association is an infringement of the Applicant’s right to freedom of association as guaranteed by section of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999.

iii. A declaration that the prying by the tenth and eleventh Respondents in the Applicant’s activities, especially bank accounts sources of funds, mode of expenditure of funds, request for Applicant’s money in his account amounts to the infringement of his right to privacy.

iv. A declaration that the unprovoked infliction of bodily assault on the Applicant and members of his Association by the first and ninth Respondents on the 19th of November 2007 amounts to infringement of his fundamental rights to dignity of the human person.

v. Damages in the sum of N3 Million against the Respondents jointly and severally for infringing upon the rights of the Applicant.

The Appellant filed the necessary supporting documents in support of the application and his case in the affidavit in support was that he was a bona fide member of and the Chairman of the Bakin Ruwa Chapel of the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) with operational office at No MG8, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Bye Pass, Bakin Ruwa, Kaduna under the National leadership of Chief Abubakar O Sadiq and that the first to the ninth Respondents were not members of the Association.

It was his case that sometime on the 8th of November 2007 while he was on lawful duties with the members of his Association at Bakin Ruwa, the first to the ninth Respondents sent thugs to disrupt their operations and that he reported the matter to the Police but that the Police arrested him and members of his Association instead and that the Divisional Police Officer informed him that since he did not give money to support police operations, the Police will not cooperate with him.

It was his case that again on the 17th of November, 2007 the first to the ninth Respondents caused the tenth to the eleventh Respondents to arrest and detain him from 3.00pm to 8.00pm and on the two occasions he was arrested and detained, he was not informed of the offence against him.

It was the case of the Appellant that on the 19th of November 2007, the tenth and eleventh Respondents requested for documents authorizing and authenticating his membership of the Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) and that he gave the documents but that to his surprise, the documents found their way into the hands of the first to the ninth Respondents.

It was his case that on the 21st of November 2007, the eleventh Respondent requested him for the source of the funds of the Association, the bank details and what they did with the funds and that in the early hours of the 19th of November 2007, the first to the nineth Respondents led a large crowd armed with placards, sticks and other weapons to attack their office with intention of causing a breach of peace.

It was his case that while this was going on, he called the eleventh Respondent who came and arrested the first to the ninth Respondents and took them to the Police Station but that events were subsequently turned around and he was made the accused person and that the first to the ninth Respondents have, in collaboration with the tenth to the eleventh Respondents, not allowed him to operate as a RTEAN member and official.

It was his case that he registered as a member of RTEAN at the Kaduna State Branch in 2003 and that he was never suspended since his registration as a member and he attached the receipt of his payment for registration as Exhibit A.