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Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed Adamu has challenged the jurisdiction of the Abuja division of the Federal High Court to entertain a suit filed by deposed Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi against his banishment from the city and subsequent confinement to Awe, a rustic community in Nasarawa State.
In the suit before the court, Sanusi was on March 9, 2020 deposed, moved out of Kano by security agents rand banished to Awe, claimed that the claimed violated his fundamental rights.
Justice Anwuli Chikere had granted an interim order for his release pending the determination of the substantive suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/357/2020.
However, the IGP, in a notice of preliminary objection, urged the court to decline jurisdiction on the grounds that the alleged rights violation took place n Kano and that what led to his banishment was his dethronement.
“The alleged infringement of the fundamental right of the applicant in this suit (Sanusi) s only ancillary to the dethronement of the applicant as the Emir of Kano, which is a matter within the jurisdiction of the High Court of a state
“It is crystal clear from all the processes fled by the applicant that the facts that gave rise to this case arose from Kano State, where the applicant was dethroned as the Emir and flown to Abuja enroute Nasarawa State.
“It is our submission that coming into Abuja was only as a mere passage to their actual destination, which is Nasarawa State, and as such Abuja cannot, by any stretch of reasoning, be said to be the place where the infringement occurred.”
The IGP added that the bass of Sanusi’s application is hs removal as the Emir of Kano, which s a chieftaincy matter, within the jurisdiction of the High Court of the state and not the Federal High Court.
Sanusi, in a counter-affidavit, faulted the IGP’s contention and insisted that his st was not about his dethronement, the subsequent forceful ejection of his family and himself from the palace, their confinement to Awe and banishment from Kano.
He argued that the infringement of hs fundamental rights was not limited to Kano, it was a continuous process that spanned three territories – Kano, Abuja and Nasarawa.
“The nucleus or gravamen of the applicant’s complaint is centrally on the violations of the applicant’s fundamental rights and there is no or any other complaints therein.
“The clam of the applicant, as presently constituted, does not have any colouration of a chieftaincy matter as alleged by the 1st respondent. The applicant is not challenging his deposition in this case,” he said.
Sanusi added that his suit s lawfully before the court and urged it to discountenance the IGP’s argument and assume jurisdiction.
At the mention of the case on July 22, 2020 lawyers to parties, including Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), for Sanusi; Maimunat Lami-Shiru, for the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), and Victor Okoye, for the IGP, regularised their processes.
Justice Chikere then adjourned till October 20, 2020 for hearing.
