A former Nigerian Ambassador to Cuba, Laraba Elsie Bhutto has challenged an alleged harassment on her by policemen during the raid in a Zankli Hospital, Abuja to arrest the Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Dino Melaye.
In a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, Ambassador Bhutto demanded N100 million damages against the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, the Nigerian Police Force (NPF), the Police Service Commission and the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command.
In the application filed by her lawyer, Abang Odok-Ogar, Bhutto avers that she was at the Zankli Medical Centre, Mabushi, Abuja on April 24, 2018, between about 5 and 6 pm for medical consultation with her doctor when uninformed and plain-cloth police officers began beating and manhandling some people.
She further said that as she attempted to find out what was happening, she heard, “carry her, arrest her” and she was immediately grabbed by some police officers.
“The police officers started beating me furiously and I fell to the ground but they picked me up and forced me into one of their waiting vehicles along with other people who were also arrested by the police,” she said.
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Ambassador Bhutto said it took the efforts of her doctors to get her released from the police station after several hours, adding that she asked that her handset be used to take pictures of the injuries she sustained in the operation.
In the application filed on April 26, 2018, Ogar states that the action of the police was “unlawful and unjustified violation of the applicant’s right to the dignity of her person and to her freedom of movement as guaranteed her both in the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.”
No date has been fixed for hearing of the suit.
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