CHAIRMAN of Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC), Barr. Hashim Abioye has sued the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Osun State Commissioner of Police for the breach of his fundamental human rights.
In the suit filed at a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, brought in a representative capacity for the Chairman, OSSIEC and on behalf of all the members and the entire staff, including ad-hoc staff of the Commission, the claimants have sued the defendants for breach and continuing breach of their fundamental rights, illegal arrest and detention, unlawful sealing of the Commission premises, threat of further arrest and detention, illegal seizure of Commission’s properties.
They are jointly asking for the sum of Two Billion Naira (N2,000,000,000.00)) as damages against the defendants amongst other reliefs.
Recall that the OSSIEC headquarters was sealed off by the Police a day before the Saturday, 22 February 2025 local government elections in the state which barred staff from performing their lawful duty.
According to sources from the legal department of the Commission, it was revealed that the Commission is taking up the case against the Nigerian Police based on the overzealousness of its men despite a court mandating security agencies to provide security for the exercise.
“A security agency is expected to be neutral and provide necessary security for the people of Nigeria, unfortunately, the reverse was the case. Many of the ad-hoc staff members have been arrested for committing no offence and up till now, no reason had been given by the Police for their continued detention.
“The fact that All Progressives Congress (APC) rules at the federal level, have control of the security agencies, doesn’t give the approval for the Police to just misbehave anyhow. This is democracy.”, the source revealed.
Eighteen-Eleven Media