KANO, NIGERIA — A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has ruled that the arrest and detention of six members of the Nigeria Patriotic Front Movement (NPFM) by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigeria Police Force was unconstitutional and violated their fundamental rights.
The activists—Barr. Yusha’u Sani Yankuzo, Comrade Abdulmajid Yakubu Daudu, Barr. Amina Bello, Comrade Anas Ado Ahmad, Comrade Sani Ibrahim Narogo, and Comrade Abdullahi Adamu Mandawari—were apprehended on September 30, 2024, in Kano for allegedly planning a peaceful protest against worsening economic conditions under the banner of #EndBadGovernance.
According to court records, the detainees were transferred to the Force Intelligence Department in Abuja and held for two days before being released without charge. They later filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit in January 2025, seeking redress for unlawful detention and the suppression of their right to protest.
In his judgment delivered on July 23, 2025, Justice S. A. Amobeda ruled that the actions of the DSS and the police constituted a gross violation of the applicants’ constitutional rights.
“The arrest of the applicants by the officers of the respondents with the sole aim of preventing a peaceful protest against economic hardship, food inflation, and crisis in Nigeria violates Sections 35, 39, 40, and 41 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended),” Justice Amobeda stated.
The court further emphasized that the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression is protected under both Nigerian law and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Justice Amobeda granted a perpetual injunction restraining the DSS and the Nigeria Police Force from further harassing or arresting the applicants.
“Every person, including the applicants, has a right to peaceful protest. The planned protest was in the national interest, focusing on economic hardship affecting citizens,” the judge ruled. “The respondents must allow the applicants to breathe freely and exercise their rights fully in a democratic society.”
Reacting to the judgment, Barr. Yankuzo, one of the applicants and Organising Secretary of the NPFM, described the ruling as a “monumental victory for democracy and the rule of law in Nigeria.”
This ruling is expected to set a strong legal precedent for the protection of citizens' rights to peaceful protest amid growing concerns over shrinking civic space in the country.
