Court Gives Verdict On Legality Of Declaring Citizens Wanted By Army

A federal high court in Abuja on Monday ruled that the Nigerian army has no authorty to declare any citizen wanted.

The ruling is consequent upon a suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/267/2019 between one Issa Perry Brimah, a Nigerian activist in diaspora and the Nigerian Army.

In January 2019, the army declared Brimah wanted for reportedly raising funds for troops and vigilantes in the hotbed of insurgency in the north-east.

Subsequently, to achieve his objectives, Brimah set up a GoFundMe account to raise funds to provide food for the soldiers in that part of the country.

Reacting to development, the army said Braimah’s  actions constituted fraud.

The alleged the motive behind Braimah’s move was obviously to swindle unsuspecting members of the public, especially the international community to “fund subversive activities and personal lifestyle”.

Following the declaration, Brimah filed a suit against the army for alleged defamation.

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Brimah said he was suing “on behalf of millions of disenfranchised citizens of the state who have often been intimidated and terrorized by the Nigerian army in flaunting of the constitution by act of willfully declaring citizens wanted and making arrests within the democratic space in the stead of the police, the formal law enforcers”.

In her ruling, the presiding judge, Ijeoma Ojukwu, held that the defendant (Nigerian army) has no power arrest the plaintiff arbitrarily without making a formal report to law enforcement agency with the mandate to enforce law and order, otherwise it would amount to self-help.

“The army or defendant has no vires to declare the plaintiff wanted without due process of law,” she said.

“However, it must be stated here without equivocation that the defendant has no right to declare the plaintiff wanted without following the appropriate procedure.

“The defendant cannot arrest the plaintiff arbitrarily without making a formal report to law enforcement agency with the mandate to enforce law and order, otherwise it would transmute to self-help. The duty of the defendant is to make a formal report to the appropriate authority like the police and await the outcome.”