Court fixes June 24 for hearing suit by Boko Haram’s ex-spokesman against DSS

An FCT High Court in Maitama has fixed June 24 for hearing of enforcement of fundamental rights suit filed by a former spokesman of Boko Haram, Ali Sanda Konduga. Konduga had sued the Director General, State Security Services (SSS) and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation over allegation of unlawful detention. […]

An FCT High Court in Maitama has fixed June 24 for hearing of enforcement of fundamental rights suit filed by a former spokesman of Boko Haram, Ali Sanda Konduga.

Konduga had sued the Director General, State Security Services (SSS) and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice of the Federation over allegation of unlawful detention.

Konduga, who was convicted and sentenced to three years imprisonment by a Chief Magistrate Court in Abuja for criminal intimidation in 2011, alleged that he was kept in detention for an extra three years before he was released in 2016.

The court was told on Thursday by counsel for the DSS, O.J. Odu, that the legal department of the DSS was yet to get a copy of the court process said to have been served on the office of the DG of DSS since March 21. He said this could be as a result of administrative bottleneck.

While confirming that they were served with hearing notice on Wednesday, he requested to be served with a copy of the process personally in court by Konduga’s counsel. He was thereafter served with the process.

The presiding judge, Justice Samira Umar Bature thereafter adjourned the proceedings to June 24 for hearing.

Daily Trust reports that Konduga, in an affidavit before the court, said he was kept in the custody of the DSS instead of the conventional prison because the government wanted him to serve as a key witness to prove a terrorism charge against Senator Ali Ndume before the Federal High Court in Abuja.

He said as at the time he was released, he was never called to testify in the matter or any other matter. He added that he was taken to the SSS’s office in Maiduguri on September 8, 2016 and was released on September 9, 2016 to his parents.

Konduga added that officers of SSS offered N700,000 to his family when he was released, adding that they were told that the money was meant for his medical treatment.

He said the gesture by SSS showed that they knew he was entitled to compensation for the “illegal and unlawful detention”, but that they refused to pay him any compensation except the N700,000 “which they referred to as medical expenses for my treatment”.

He said following his release in 2016, he sustained head injury when some individuals attacked him as a result of which the police from GRA Police Station, Maiduguri took him into protective custody and later referred him to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Maiduguri.

Aside demanding for an “unreserved public apology in three National Newspapers”, Konduga also want the court to direct the respondents to “jointly and severally pay” him “the sum of N500,000,000 as aggravated damages and compensation for the illegal, unconstitutional and unlawful detention”.