Honour Police Invitation, Court Tells Saraki, Melaye, Murray-Bruce

The Federal High Court, Abuja has ordered Senate President Bukola Saraki, Senator Dino Melaye and Senator Ben Murray-Bruce to honour the Police invitation of Oct. 5, 2018.

This is in connection with the protest staged by members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the headquarters of the Nigeria Police Force.

Justice Okon Abang gave the order on Thursday while delivering judgment in a fundamental human rights suit filed by the trio alleging intimidation, harassment and threat by the police, NAN reports.

“It is my view that the police invitation to the applicants is still valid and subsisting; the applicants shall respond or report to the police invitation without fail.

“It is how the police treat them upon their having honoured the application that would determine whether their fundamental rights was violated not before they honour the invitation,” the judge said.

Justice Okon Abang held that even though the applicants were not on trial, where there were allegations against them, they had an obligation to report to the police upon been invited.

He insisted that the court could not restrain the police from discharging its duties as long as it was done within the confines of the law.

According to the judge, the suit of the applicants lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed with a cost of N50,000 awarded in favour of the police.

The trio had filed an application asking the court to nullify the Oct. 6 and 8, 2018 letters of invitation to them by the Police.

They claimed that the Police invitation was an attempt to harass, intimidate and unlawfully detain them.

The senators also asked the court to declare that the act of dispersing their procession with tear gas was a violation of their fundamental rights, and asked the court to award N500 million to them as damages.

The three senators were part of the PDP leaders who led a protest on Oct. 5, 2018, asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct free and fair elections.

The protest was sequel to the Osun governorship election which was declared to have been won by the All Progressives Congress.