Mrs. Zainab Kassim, the former personal assistant of Mrs. Aisha Buhari, the first lady of Nigeria, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement lawsuit against the latter.
From June 2015 to September 2019, Kassim served as the personal assistant for four years. From September 2019, she served as the special assistant to the president in the First Lady’s office, and from February 2022 until her disengagement.
On November 18, 2022, DSS officers detained Mrs. Kassim and took her to the Presidential Villa on Mrs. Buhari’s orders. There, she allegedly suffered assault, dehumanization, and abuse at the hands of the first lady as well as DSS and police officers over unfounded claims that she had deleted the first lady’s social media posts.
Kassim was ultimately imprisoned for four days in abhorrent conditions and was refused access to her family, attorneys, and medications despite having told them she had hypertension. During her detention, she passed out and needed to be taken to the hospital for emergency care.
Even after her release, individuals acting on the First Lady’s behalf have persisted in threatening and harassing her to stop trying to seek legal recourse for the First Lady’s violation of her rights.
At the Federal High Court in Abuja, Sterling Solicitors, Mrs. Kassim’s attorney, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement lawsuit against Buhari, the Director-General of the DSS, and the Inspector-General of Police, alleging damages of N100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira).
The lawsuit further alleged that the Respondent’s conduct was against the Constitution, illegal, null, and void, and that they violated the plaintiff’s rights to her liberty and freedom of movement.
In addition, it stated that threats of further kidnapping, arrest, detention, and assassination made against the applicant by representatives of the second and third respondents are unconstitutional, illegal, and constitute torture as well as a violation of her rights to a fair trial, life, and human dignity.
The applicant also requested a court order ordering the second respondent to give her her Note 20 Ultra mobile phone right away and a court order prohibiting the respondents—either directly or through their agents or employees—from further kidnapping, arresting, detaining, torturing, or threatening to kidnap, arrest, detain, or assassinate the applicant or from violating any other of the applicant’s fundamental rights.
