A High Court sitting in Kaduna has ordered the State Commissioner of Police to pay a total of ₦15 million as damages for violating the fundamental rights of members of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) to peaceful assembly.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Murtala Zubairu held that the police acted unlawfully when they disrupted two political meetings involving a former Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, and chieftains of the two opposition parties on August 30 and September 4, 2025, respectively.
According to the judgment, the first meeting was reportedly broken up by thugs in the presence of police officers, while the second meeting was halted by the police based on an ex parte order obtained from the court.
The police had earlier filed a suit marked KDH/KAD/NPD/1315/2025, seeking to suspend all political meetings in the state, citing alleged threats of violence. However, Justice Zubairu dismissed the suit, describing it as “incompetent, politically motivated, and an abuse of court process.”
He ruled that the police acted in bad faith and exceeded their statutory powers under the Police Act 2020, stressing that their duty was to provide security for peaceful assemblies, not to ban them arbitrarily.
“The notion that the police can indefinitely suspend the fundamental rights of association and assembly of every political party in a state is an overreach and constitutes an abuse of statutory powers,” the judge declared.
Justice Zubairu further held that the ex parte injunction obtained by the police on September 4, 2025, violated Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly and association. He therefore set aside the order for lack of merit and procedural irregularities.
The court ordered the police to pay ₦15 million as compensatory, general, aggravated, and exemplary damages for breach of rights and wrongful interference, broken down as follows:
- ₦5 million for the unlawful suspension of the parties’ meetings,
- ₦5 million for obtaining a wrongful injunction, and
- ₦5 million for failure to investigate the reported attack.
Additionally, the Commissioner of Police was directed to investigate the August 30 violence and submit a report to the Attorney-General of Kaduna State within 60 days.
Justice Zubairu warned that selective enforcement or suppression of opposition activity by law enforcement agencies erodes public trust and undermines democratic governance.
