16th January, 2015
Akin Kuponiyi
A Lagos-based lawyer, Miss Amaka Onyeabo, has slammed one billion naira on the Inspector General of Police over the death of her mother, late Mrs. Patricia Onyeabo.
Mrs Onyeabo, before her death on May 16, 2014, was the legal adviser/secretary to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC.
Joined as co-respondents are Lagos state Commissioner of Police and Assistant Commissioner of Police, Nigerian Railway Corporation headquarters.
Amaka in an affidavit sworn to in support of amended originating motion filed before a federal high court in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria by Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN) brought pursuant to section 6(6)(b),33,34,35,36, and 46 of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, as amended; articles 4,5,6 and 7 of African Charter on human and people’s rights (ratification and enforcement) Act Cap A9 laws of elthe Federation of Nigeria, 2004, is asking for a declarations that the unsubstantiated indictment in a letter, leading to the harassment, detention, and intimidation, humiliation and restriction of movement of her late mother since April 25, 2014, until her death on May 16, 2014, by the respondents are frivolous, vindictive, wicked, smack of gross impunity, is unlawful, unconditional and breach of the fundamental rights of the deceased.
She therefore asked for an order of the court directing the respondents to tender unreserved apology to her and her entire family in any two newspapers circulating within Nigeria. And an order directing the respondents to pay her family the sum of one billion naira, being general and aggravated damage for unlawful detention, harassment and intimidation of her late mother in breach of her fundamental rights that eventually led to her painful and premature death, the complete degradation, loss of reputation and goodwill of her late mother’s family built by sheer dint of hard work, the collective shame and ostracism suffered by her entire family as a result of the lawless and abusive of her respondents.
The lawyer averred that her deceased mother received a letter on April 25, 2014, signed by the Corporation’s Managing Director, Engr. Adeseyi Sijuwade, alleging her to have conspired with 69 other staff of the Corporation to have embezzled over N1.5 billion between 2011 to 2013, before her retirement from the Corporation in February 2014, upon attainment the statutory age of retirement and that no report of the purported finding was made available to her late mother prior to her retirement in February 2014, or at the point being communicated the said decision reached.
Amaka stated further that in the shocking letter received by her late mother, she was informed that she aggregated the sum of N16.5 million over the period of three years (2011-2013), which had been traced directly to her personal accounts as proceeds of the alleged conspiracy to defraud the Corporation of N1.5 billion of pension funds and her purported benefit in the alleged embezzlement conspiracy.
The deceased was arrested and detained at the different formation of the police in Lagos and Abuja between May 2, 2014, on the basis of warrant of arrest and detained till when she died on May 16, 2014, all efforts by the deceased lawyer to secure her bail on grounds of inadequate medical care was refused by the police authority, and that during her detention, the deceased suffered stroke and she eventually died on May 16,2014.
It was further averred that her deceased mother did not commit any crime that could warrant her forceful and unlawful detention by the respondents outside the constitutional prescribed period without bail and that when her late mother applied for bail it was bluntly rejected by the police.
The alleged petition, harassment, and threats of arrest by the police were made in bad faith, calculated to blackmail, exploit, embarrass, stripe her late mother of any iota of dignity and that same as completely rubbished her late mother’s reputation and family name built up over several decades of meritorious service and exposed her late mother’s entire family including herself to the most humiliating form of ostracism, isolation, finger pointing, community jeers, public indictment without any form of fair hearing or opportunity for the deceased and her entire family to clear the deeply tarnished name and dignity of her entire family.
The police is yet to file any defence to the suit, the suit could have been fixed for hearing but for the ongoing strike of the judicial worker.