Police absent as court hears Kano’s N50m garnishee proceedings

The Nigeria Police were absent and unrepresented as Justice Simon Amobeda of the Federal High Court presided over a N50 million damages claim instituted against them by Awwalu Abdullahi Alfa and Malam Abdullahi Alfa for the violation of their fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution.

The applicants have initiated garnishee proceedings at the court to enforce the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which awarded N50 million in damages against the respondents.

The plaintiffs were arrested and detained by the disbanded Police Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in 2013. Hassan Abdullahi Alfa, son of one of the applicants, reportedly died in hospital due to injuries sustained from torture while in police custody.

During the resumed hearing of the case on Wednesday, the Inspector General of Police, the Police Commissioner of Kano State, and then SP Yusuf Kolo, who served as the Officer in Charge of SARS at the time of the incident, were absent. They are listed as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th respondents in the matter.

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Counsel representing the applicants, Ibrahim Yunusa, informed the court about a letter received from the Nigeria Police requesting an adjournment to allow them time to prepare their defense.

In response, Justice Amobeda ordered the applicants to serve the police a hearing notice and adjourned the case to June 11 for further hearing.