A Federal High Court, Abuja, has ordered a stay of execution of orders
by the National Human Rights Commission, which awarded N135m to relatives and
victims of the September 20, 2013 attack and killing of eight squatters in an
uncompleted building in Apo, Abuja.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in an ex-parte ruling on June 27, also granted
leave to the State Security Service to apply for an order of certiorari to
quash the decisions and awards contained in the NHRC’s report on complaint No:
C/2013/7908/HQ.
The judge ordered that the leave granted should apply as stay of
execution of the orders and awards in the report “so that the proceedings in
this matter are not subverted by any step that may be taken to seek to enforce
or enforce the decision,” as captured by the report.
Justice Kolawole, in his ruling, directed the SSS to file its motion on
notice and serve it on the respondents.
He ordered the respondents to respond within eight days and fixed July 9
as the return date.
The commission had, in its report released in April 2014, faulted the
claim by the SSS and the Nigerian Army that the eight and 11 injured others
were affected during the exchange of fire between security agents and suspected
Boko Haram members.
The NHRC had in the case tagged, ‘Global Rights and 3 others vs. Federal
Republic of Nigeria and 3 others’, ordered the Federal Government to, among
others, pay a total of N135m as compensation to the victims.
The SSS was expected to pay N10m for each of those killed and N5m to
each of the 11 injured survivors.
But the SSS said it was never invited or interrogated during the
preliminary investigations conducted by the NHRC in respect to the incident.
It added that it was not given a copy of the petitions lodged by the
Global Rights, Human Rights Law Office and National Association of Commercial
Tricycle and Motorcycle Owners and Riders Association.
The SSS, through its application, is seeking to quash the report of the
NHRC on the grounds that the Commission was biased against it throughout the
proceedings of the public inquiry in that it was not given any fair hearing
during the preliminary investigation.