Court orders police IG to pay woman N100m over d€ath of husband in custody

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday directed the Inspector-General Police to pay Mrs Mary Kajo N100 million over the alleged arrest, unlawful detention, torture and death of her husband, Mark Kajo.

The court also ordered the police authorities to pay a sum of N500,000 as cost for filing the suit.

Justice Ekwo held that there would be five per cent post-judgment interest on the fine until the judgment debt is fully defrayed.

The judge who presided over the matter and observed that the police authorities did not challenge the case of the applicant said: “The position of the law remains that affidavit evidence which is not challenged or controverted howsoever is deemed admitted and can be relied upon by a court.”

He thus declared the killing of the late Mark in his custody by agents of the police wrongful, illegal and unconstitutional.

He said it was a violation of the constitutional rights of Mark under Section 33 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, CAP.A9, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.

He said the deceased had a fundamental right to life guaranteed and enforceable under the laws

“I find that the applicant has established that the fundamental rights of her husband Mr Mark Kajo have been violated by inexplicable cold-blooded extra judicial killing of the deceased in the custody of 1st to 3rd respondents.

“Nothing can ever be more barbaric and nasty than this kind of death in the hands of Law Enforcement Agents whose statutory and constitutional duty is to protect lives and property.

“To not even file any process in this case, I would be presumptuous to say the least that the 1st–3rd Respondents are not even perturbed at the least about such a loss of citizen’s life in their custody and the outcome of this suit.

“The law is trite that where it is established that the fundamental right of a citizen has been breached, damages in compensation legally and naturally follow every act of violation of a citizen’s fundamental right,” he said.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Mary Kajo in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/600/2023 sued as 1st to 4th respondents respectively the Nigeria Police Force, its Inspector General, Benue State Commissioner of Police and Attorney-General of the Federation.

On the 2nd day of May 2023, Mary had sworn that her husband was arrested detained and tortured by the police and eventually executed without trial in an affidavit she deposed to.

She said Mark was arrested by officers of the police on Jan. 1, 2018 around Wurukum Market in Makurdi.

She told me that by January 1st, 2018, according to her, her husband left home down to Wurukum Market to buy medicine for their sick child who woke up that morning feeling very weak but never returned home nor called to check up the sick child.

She said that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) at Benue State Police Headquarters in Makurdi told her that one Aondover in their custody made a confessional statement of how he stole a car and gave it to Mark.

Mary averred that her husband was taken to the Police Headquarters in Abuja, which referred him to Area 3, where there was a station known as the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS).

Further, the mother of five claimed that it was the police that told on the North-Central Zone of the Presidential Panel Hearing on SARS Reform 2018, where a petition was filed how her husband was murdered with armed thugs while in their custody.

That some armed thugs attacked the vehicle conveying them to recover hidden arms, and in the course of exchange of fire, three of the suspects were shot and died on the spot including her husband and their corpses were deposited at the morgue of the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada.

In its counter affidavit deposed to by Adedayo Adeboye, an official in the office at the AGF, argued that none of averments by Mary was against his office…[CONTINUE READING HERE]>>