By Emma Una

CALABAR—A Cross River State High Court sitting in Calabar, yesterday,  ordered the  Commander,  13 Brigade, of the Nigerian Army,  Calabar,  Brigadier A. Ismaila, to release a civilian, one  Isaac Ebenya,  detained by the Brigade or he should be arraigned before a court  of competent jurisdiction.

File: Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General TY Buratai and other top Army personnel

Trial judge, Justice Edem Koofreh   gave the order following an application by Ebenya for the enforcement of his fundamental rights brought before the court  by his counsel,  Dickson Arikpo, pursuant to Order 11 Rules 1,2,3 of the Fundamental Right , Enforcement Procedure, Rules 2009, seeking his  immediate release.

Justice Koofreh ordered: “It is hereby declared  that the arrest and detention of the applicant by the respondent on June 26, 2018 till now without trail,  granting him bail or releasing him till  this moment  constitutes a violation of the applicant’s  Fundamental Right of Human Dignity and Liberty as enshrined in Section 34 and 35 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended.”

Justice Koofreh also ordered  that the  applicant be arraigned or released from custody forthwith.