On Thursday, the Federal High Court in Abuja dismissed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed against the Department of State Services by Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra.
Kanu’s claim lacks merit, according to Justice James Omotosho, and should be rejected.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Kanu sued the Director General of DSS, DSS, and the Attorney-General of the Federation as the first, second, and third respondents in the suit designated FHC/ABJ/CS/482/2022 and filed by his counsel.
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The IPOB leader claimed in the suit that the DSS subjected him to various inhumane treatment, including refusing him the right to wear any garments of his choice, such as the Igbo traditional attire known as “Isi-Agu,” while he was in their facility or any time he appeared in court for his trial.
He claimed that the security outfit, while letting other detainees in their control to chose and wear any clothes they wanted, limited him to wearing only one.
The applicant also accused the DSS of torturing him and violating his right to dignity, among other things.
As a result, he requested an order requiring the respondents to enable him to wear whatever attire he wanted while in the facility or when appearing in public, among other reliefs.
The DSS and its DG, on the other hand, asked the court to dismiss Kanu’s claim in a counter-affidavit.
They claimed that their operatives had never abused Kanu physically or mentally while he was in their custody.
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The DSS states that the applicant (Kanu) is kept in their facility where every other suspect is kept.
They denied that other suspects were allowed to wear anything they wanted, including traditional Hausa and Yoruba attire.
They claimed that the venue was not a recreational center or a traditional festival where Kanu and other suspects may parade around in their traditional garb.
They claimed that there is a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) governing dress code at their facilities.
“That in line with global best practices, persons in the 1st and 2nd respondents’ facility are allowed to wear only plain clothes which do not bear symbols, writings, colours and insignias that are offensive to any religion, ethnic group or even the Nigeria state in general,” they said.
They accused Kanu’s family of sending traditional garb and other apparel with Biafra insignias, as well as a pair of red shoes studded with dazzling beads, for him to wear while in detention and to attend his trial.
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The garments, according to DSS, bear the colors of the non-existent Biafra Republic, which is the focus of the applicant’s criminal trial.
They said that the Isi-Agu outfit, also known as chieftaincy garb, was inappropriate for those in detention institutions and violated its standard operating procedures.
They also claimed that Kanu’s present trial, before Justice Binta Nyako, had directed that he be permitted to wear any plain attire of his choice, and that anything opposite would be in violation of the court’s directive.
According to the DSS, they never violated his right to human dignity, as claimed by the IPOB leader.
In his decision, Justice Omotosho stated that the right to human dignity is enshrined in Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution.
He stated unequivocally that the right to human dignity was inextricably linked to the right against torture and inhuman treatment, among other things.
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According to the evidence presented in court, Kanu’s case did not involve torture or forced labor because he was never mistreated while in detention.
He stated that the right to dignity did not include the right to change clothing as a prison detainee.
“The applicant cannot come to court to seek rights which are not in the constitution,” he said.
Furthermore, Justice Omotosho ruled that Kanu failed to produce images and identities of convicts who were permitted to wear alternative clothing while detained.
He claimed the burden was on him to prove his argument, but the applicant relied solely on facts without any evidence.
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He called the IPOB leader’s claims “a hypothesis without concrete evidence.”
As a result, the judge rejected the case for lack of merit.
According to NAN, a retired judge of the court, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, dismissed a similar claim filed by Kanu last year.
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