By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

ABUJA — An Abuja High Court sitting in Maitama, has awarded N7 million damages against the Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police FCT, Ministry of Police Affairs and the Police Service Commission, over the violent disruption of a peaceful rally in Abuja,  November 21, 2013.

The court order followed a suit marked CV/1624/2013, filed by a non-governmental organization, the Centre for Social Justice, Mr.  Eze Onyekpere and five others.

In his judgement, Justice Hussein Baba-Yusuf held that the violent disruption of the applicants’ meeting and peaceful assembly at the Millennium Park in Abuja on  November 21, 2013 by armed officials of the respondents, “was a wanton violation of the applicants’ fundamental rights guaranteed by Section 40 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended.”

The court said the respondents acted against the spirit and provisions of the constitution when it forcefully prevented the  applicants from marching to the National Assembly to lodge their complaint.

It said the action of armed officials of the respondents violated the applicants’ right to freedom of movement as enshrined in section 41 of the 1999 constitution.

Consequently, Justice Baba-Yusuf issued “a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, whether by themselves or  their agents, servants or proxies from using chemical weapons or any other type of weapon to disperse, torture or intimidate  the applicants or prevent them from assembling, gathering, moving or marching  from or to any part of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The court also granted “an order compelling the respondents jointly and severally to pay to the applicants the sum of five  thousand  Naira (N5,000) for medical expenses incurred by the applicants in treating participants as a result of the chemical weapons used by the respondents to disperse the gathering of the applicants on November 21, 2013.”

Besides, the court equally awarded N5,000,000 for general damages and  N2,000,000 for special damages in favour of the applicants.

The applicants, had through their lawyer, Mr. Kingsley Nnajiaka, gone before the high court to enforce their fundamental human rights.