JUST IN: Court Slams El-Rufai, Associates with N900 Million Fine Over Human Rights Abuse

For their roles in the unlawful incarceration of Adara elders in 2019, Nasir El-Rufai, the former governor of Kaduna State, and five other individuals were given ₦900 million in damages by a Federal High Court in Kaduna.
On Tuesday, Justice Hauwa’u Buhari rendered the decision in a lawsuit brought by Awemi Dio Maisamari and eight other elders from Southern Kaduna Adara.
The ₦900 million compensation was due to El-Rufai, who was found to have personally planned their arbitrary arrest.

Along with the compensation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Inspector General of Police, and the Commissioner of Police of Kaduna State were also given ₦10 million in general damages and ₦10 million in special damages by the court.

The decision was hailed as a major win in the ongoing fight against power abuse by Gloria Mabeiam Ballason, the applicants’ attorney. “It holds people in positions of power accountable, even when they are protected by immunity,” she said, calling the ruling a landmark ruling.

Regardless matter whether the office holders are momentarily protected by immunity, Ballason said, “This ruling represents a turning point against the misuse of authority and accountability for misuse.” The enjoyment of impunity by those in positions of power does not justify executive lawlessness.

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Following El-Rufai’s term as governor, the complaint was brought, and the former governor was designated as the first respondent in his individual capacity.

Following the assassination of Dr. Raphael Maiwada Galadima, the supreme ruler of the Adara people, the applicants were taken into custody in 2019.

Maisamari and other community leaders were allegedly arrested at the time by El-Rufai, who had labeled them as security concerns in Kajuru. Bawa Magaji, a former commissioner, and a former police commissioner were among those arrested.

But when the Attorney General discovered no evidence against them, the people who had been imprisoned were later freed.