Where is Mohammed Sani Sambo?

The order was made 10, July, 2013 under the hand of Justice Sylvanus Oriji, sitting at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja who ordered the unconditional release of Mohammed Sani Sambo from unlawful police arrest and detention.Apart from the unconditional release, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) was also ordered by the […]

The order was made 10, July, 2013 under the hand of Justice Sylvanus Oriji, sitting at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in Abuja who ordered the unconditional release of Mohammed Sani Sambo from unlawful police arrest and detention.
Apart from the unconditional release, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) was also ordered by the Court to pay N.5 Million as compensation for the illegal detention.Mohammed Sani Sambo, was arrested and detained since 13 th June 2012 on the suspicion that he was a member of the proscribed Boko Haram group but he was never taken to court till date.
He was first detained for about three weeks in Kaduna where he was arrested in his residence at No. 14 Abdullahi Balarabe road, KTC Layout Kawo, before he was transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad in Abuja. He is married with two wives and eight children.
Apart from the unconditional release and the N500, 000  compensation, the court also declared that the arrest and detention violated Sambo’s fundamental human right as enshrined in the 1999 constitution.
In this case, the Police did not place any fact before the Court to justify the basis for Sambo’s arrest and detention for such a long time.
 Joined as co-respondents in the suit were the deputy Inspector general of Police, Zone 7 A FCT and the FCT commissioner of Police. The records in the case file shows that although hearing notice were served on the respondents their lawyer were absent and gave no reason for their absence to defend the case.
During a chat with our correspondent, Modibbo said that he has been moving from one police command to another with no one ready to comply with the court order which is valid and still subsisting. He mentioned that at a point he was even been threatened by the police for serving them with the court papers.
In a protest letter to the Executive Secretary, National Human Rights Commission in Abuja, Modibbo drew the Commission’s attention to the gross human rights violation of his client describing it as police incompetence and outright disgrace of judicial order. This situation according to him as tarnished the country’s human right image to a point of ridicule.