A Federal High Court in FCT, Abuja has restrained all security agencies in the country from apprehending or detaining Murtala Ajaka, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the upcoming November governorship election in Kogi State.
The court had also restricted Yahaya Bello, the Kogi State Governor, and the security agencies in the state from harassing Ajaka.
Justice Inyang Ekwo had given the order on Thursday, July 13, after a fundamental right enforcement suit had been tendered before the court by the SDP candidate.
In the suit Ajaka had filed led by his lawyer, Sunday Aruwa, he had sought protection from the court, insisting that his life was in danger. Ajaka had then appealed to the court to enforce his fundamental rights to life, freedom of movement and expression, and the right to peaceful assembly.
Justice Ekwo had meanwhile, found merit in the ex-parte motion and affidavit of urgency that the applicant brought before the court, issuing an order to restrain the governor, all security agencies, their agents, and anybody acting through or under them from arresting, inviting, detaining or threatening the SDP candidate’s life and property until the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
Justice Ekwo had then adjourned the matter to July 21, 2023 for hearing, and had ordered the applicant to serve the respondents, all the processes in the suit together with the order of the court. He had also directed security agencies to provide maximum security to the applicant in Abuja, Kogi State and anywhere else in Nigeria immediately, until the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
