JUST IN: Detained Femi Fani-Kayode Sues Federal Government Over Prolonged Detention [DETAILS]

A former minister of aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode has sued the Federal Government of Nigeria.

FFK, as he’s fondly called is suing the FG over his prolonged detention.

In a suit filed before Justice Adegboyega Adeniyi of the Federal Capital Territory Court in Apo, the former minister challenges the breach of his fundamental human right to liberty.

Fani-kayode has been under detention at the facility of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for close to one month after honouring the commission’s invitation on Monday, May 9.

He was later moved from Abuja to Lagos where a remand order tp detain him for 21 days was gotten from a Lagos Magistrate Court.

The EFCC in its application for the order said a longer detention of the former minister would enable the commission conduct further investigation into an alleged N1.5 bn fraud leveled against him pending an arraignment.

However raising concerns, Fani-Kayode’s media aide, Jude Ndukwe said the treatment meted to his principal by the EFCC is inhumane. Ndukwe accused the commission whisking the former minister away to Lagos irrespective of meeting bail conditions granted him by the EFCC.

In a statement issued by Ndukwe, he accused the anti-graft agency of acting contrary to Nigerian law comparing the approach to the same way it was treating Sambo Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu.

“Despite having been served court notices for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights, the EFCC today sneaked Chief Femi Fani-Kayode into an Ikeja magistrate court where they obtained a highly contentious warrant to keep him in their custody for another three weeks even though EFCC requested for a thirty-day remand warrant.

Chief Fani-Kayode’s lawyers had served the EFCC the court notices from a Federal High Court in Abuja on Friday, 20th of May, 2016, but to our consternation he was whisked to Lagos last Thursday and taken to an Ikeja Magistrate court this morning where they applied to keep him for another thirty days.

This is a gross abuse of court processes and a denial of his fundamental human rights. It is even most shocking that EFCC attempted to take him to the magistrate court without notifying his lawyers or family members.

His lawyers had to go from court to court in Lagos searching for venue of the court proceedings before they eventually traced it to Ikeja. This type of treatment to any citizen of our nation especially in a democratic era is, to say the least, inhuman.

One wonders why a case already before a High Court was entertained in a magistrate court, and judgement given immediately. This smacks of nothing but vendetta.

EFCC have no reasonable cause to continue to keep Chief Femi Fani-Kayode in their custody beyond the constitutional provision of 48 hours. He is not known to have either attempted to evade arrest nor resisted same,” Ndukwe’s statement read in parts.