{"id":158962,"date":"2025-04-09T12:06:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man"},"modified":"2025-04-15T12:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T11:23:13","slug":"nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man","title":{"rendered":"Nasarawa court awards N2m damages for unlawful detention of man"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>A High Court sitting in Uke, Nasarawa State, has awarded N2 million in damages to one Stephen Jonah over his unlawful and prolonged detention by the Nasarawa State Police Command.<\/p>\n<p>The ruling followed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed on Mr. Jonah\u2019s behalf by the Restorative Justice for Africa Initiative (REJA), a human rights organisation.<\/p>\n<p>Jonah had been held at the Keffi Maximum Security Correctional Facility since 2022 without proper legal process.<\/p>\n<p>The case, filed on December 5, 2023, under Suit No: NSD\/MG610\/2023, named the Commissioner of Police and the Attorney General of Nasarawa State as respondents.<\/p>\n<p>According to a statement by REJA, the organisation discovered Mr. Jonah during a routine visit to the Keffi Correctional Centre and immediately took steps to challenge his detention in court.<\/p>\n<p>In Tuesday\u2019s ruling, the court declared Mr. Jonah\u2019s detention a violation of his constitutional rights and condemned the Nasarawa State Police Command for failing to comply with the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of the state.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Court in its judgement held that the Nasarawa Police Command \u2018failed to comply with the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Nasarawa State\u2019 and wrongfully violated the Applicant\u2019s right to freedom and dignity as a Nigerian Citizen,\u201d REJA quoted the judgment.<\/p>\n<p>The court also ordered Mr. Jonah\u2019s immediate and unconditional release from detention.<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to the verdict, REJA described the judgment as a victory for human rights and justice. The group called on the Nasarawa State Attorney General and the Assistant Controller of Corrections to ensure full compliance with the court\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe call upon the Attorney General of Nasarawa State and the Assistant Controller of Corrections, Nasarawa State, to comply with the court\u2019s order and release Stephen Jonah immediately,\u201d REJA said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>The organisation reiterated its commitment to supporting vulnerable and indigent inmates across Nigeria.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery week, volunteer lawyers and paralegals visit correctional facilities across Nigeria as a strong commitment to improving access to justice for indigent inmates who have been trapped in the justice system and forgotten by the ones who swore to protect their rights,\u201d the group stated.<\/p>\n<p>REJA also pointed out broader concerns about Nigeria\u2019s criminal justice system, urging stakeholders to take action.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe disturbing trend of law enforcement agents remanding and forgetting people behind bars for years, only to file unsubstantiated charges when a rights action is filed, must be strongly condemned and discouraged,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Nigeria<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Nigeria. A High Court sitting in Uke, Nasarawa State, has awarded N2 million in damages to one Stephen Jonah over his unlawful and prolonged detention by the Nasarawa State Police Command. The ruling followed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed on Mr. Jonah\u2019s behalf by the Restorative Justice for Africa Initiative (REJA), a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":158961,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[69,1164,254],"class_list":["post-158962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-court","tag-nasarawa","tag-nigeria"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Nasarawa court awards N2m damages for unlawful detention of man - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A High Court sitting in Uke, Nasarawa State, has awarded N2 million in damages to one Stephen Jonah over his unlawful an ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nasarawa court awards N2m damages for unlawful detention of man\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A High Court sitting in Uke, Nasarawa State, has awarded N2 million in damages to one Stephen Jonah over his unlawful an ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-09T11:06:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-15T11:23:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744188306.946731.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1062\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"598\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Nasarawa court awards N2m damages for unlawful detention of man\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-09T11:06:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-15T11:23:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man\"},\"wordCount\":426,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2025\/04\/sm_1744188306.946731.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"court\",\"Nasarawa\",\"Nigeria\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nasarawa-court-awards-n2m-damages-for-unlawful-detention-of-man\",\"name\":\"Nasarawa court awards N2m damages for unlawful detention of man - 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