…Demand N2bn damages
Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) and its chairman, Barr. Hashim Abioye have sued the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun and the Osun State Commissioner of Police for the breach of fundamental rights.
In a suit filed at the federal high court sitting in Osogbo, brought in a representative capacity for themselves and on behalf 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. A sum of Two billion naira (N2Bn) is also being sought as damages against the defendants amongst other reliefs.
Recall that the OSSIEC headquarters had been sealed off by the police a day before the Saturday, February 22, 2025 local government elections in the state which barred staff from performing their lawful duty.
According to available sources from the legal department of the commission, it was revealed that the commission is taking up the case against the Nigerian Police over the overzealousness of their 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, reverse was the case. Many of the ad-hoc staff 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 APC rules at the federal who have control of the security agencies doesn’t give the approval for the police to just misbehave anyhow. This is democracy.”, the source revealed
