Court awards N5m against NDLEA over unlawful detention of businessman for 34 days

The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has awarded N5 million against the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) for parading the Chief Executive Officer of Derindos Ventures Limited, Aderinde Aro.

Aro, who was arrested on October 16, 2022 and released on November 18, 2022, said that his picture was taken with an inscription on a board that indicted him for an alleged offence he was not tried for and convicted of.

He added that his picture was published in the media without being charged to any court of competent jurisdiction, saying that such an action was an infringement of his right to a fair hearing and has tarnished his image and reputation among his clients and colleagues.

Aro, while narrating his ordeals, said: “I was arrested and my picture was taken the same day I was arrested. My picture was taken immediately after I got to their office before the investigation. My picture was subsequently published in the media on Sunday, November 23, 2022.

In his ruling on June 26, 2024, Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa agreed that the NDLEA has the right to effect the arrest of suspects under Section 41 (1) (b) of the NDLEA Act.

But contrary to the claims by the NDLEA that Aro was not detained for 34 days without trial, the judge expressed an opposite opinion, saying: “Exhibit NDLEA 7, the bail bond shows that the defendant was released on November 18. Exhibit NDLEA 7 supports the applicant’s averment that he was detained for 34 days from October 16 till November 18, 2022. The detention of the applicant for that period is beyond the threshold allowed by law.”

The judge, citing Section 35 (4) of the Constitution, submitted: “Any person who is arrested or detained in accordance with sub-section (1) (c) of this section shall be brought before a court of law within a reasonable time and if he is not tried within a period of…”

The court added that in subsection (4) of the section, the expression ‘a reasonable time’ means in the case of arrest or detention in any place where there is a court of competent jurisdiction within a radius of 40 kilometres, a period of one day; and in any other case, a period of two days or such longer period as in the circumstances may be considered by the court to be reasonable.

The court explained: “Applying the circumstances of this case to the above provision, it is clear that the Applicant’s detention for 34 days from October 16 was in breach of the law as provided in Section 35 (1) (4) (5) of the constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) thereby breaching the applicants fundamental Right to liberty of the person.”

On the breach of the applicant’s right to dignity of the human person, the court drew inspiration from Section 34 (1) (a) of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) which states: “Every individual is entitled to respect for the dignity of his person, and accordingly (a) no person shall be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment.

The court, therefore, held that the applicant is entitled to monetary compensation as well as a public apology in three national newspapers for the ordeals he was made to pass through.

It said: “The applicant is therefore based on my consideration in this case entitled to the reliefs sought on the body of the motion paper. Section 36 (5) of the constitution as earlier cited is clear on this. The Applicant is entitled to compensation and public apology for the breach of his Fundamental Rights. The courts have in decided cases awarded damages and or public apology against appropriate authorities for violation of human rights. In the instant case, I award compensation to the applicant to be paid by the respondent in the sum of N5 million only.”