A rights activist, Maduabuchi Idam, has filed a N105 billion suit against Ebonyi State Governor Francis Nwifuru and seven others over alleged violation of the fundamental rights of the people of Amasiri in Afikpo Local Government Area.
In the case before the Federal High Court in Abuja, Idam faulted the deployment of soldiers and other security agents in his community following an alleged directive of Governor Nwifuru.
The activist accused the security agents of engaging in wanton rights violations, including indiscriminate arrest and detention of his kinsmen, as well as destruction of their assets.
The respondents listed along with the governor in the fundamental rights enforcement suit are: the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), and the Commandant-General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Others are: the Commandant of the Nwangu Military Cantonment, Lt.–Gen. A. M. Sa’ad; the Attorney-General of Ebonyi State, and the state House of Assembly.
Idam prayed the court to, among others, declare as a violation of their rights, the deployment and continued presence of heavily armed troops of the Nigerian Army and other security operatives in Amasiri on January 30, 2026, at the instance of the governor.
The lawyer stated that the security agents have since laid siege to the community after Nwifuru imposed a prolonged curfew (2 p.m. to 10 a.m.). He added that the security agents carry out indiscriminate arrests en masse, destroy centuries-old cultural relics and religious centres, and engage in acts that have resulted in the loss of lives and properties, in a town that is neither in a state of war or insurrection, nor subject to a constitutionally declared state of emergency.
Idam also prayed the court to issue an order directing the respondents to release all the persons indiscriminately arrested, especially two traditional rulers of the community – Ezeogo Idam Bassey Onya (Ekuma Ubaghala II of Amasiri Autonomous Community) and Ezeogo Godfrey Oko…(Isaka Ogu IV of Ndukwe Autonomous Community) and the unlawful removal of the Coordinator of Amasiri Development Centre, Baron Ogbonnia, who has been detained without trial since January 31.
Source; The Nation News