My Client Spent Five Years, Brutalized In Custody Without Trial In Enugu — Lawyer

A lawyer in a case before the Enugu State Police Brutality and Extra judicial Killings Panel, Mr. J. N. Ezeh has narrated how his client was kept in custody for five years without trial.

Ezeh disclosed this on Tuesday in Enugu at the resumed hearing of the panel.

The counsel said that the petitioner, Mr Obiora Nkuja was arrested by officers of the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in the state.

He said that his client was incarcerated, maliciously brutalised and dehumanised.

Ezeh demanded for N500 million in damages to enable his client undergo rehabilitation and other treatments.

Responding, the Chairman of the panel, retired Justice Kingsley Udeh, said that the panel would go into the facts of the matter in due time.

Udeh, however, adjourned the case and 29 others until separate dates that would be conveyed to the parties.

The chairman said that the adjournments were as a result of the absence of the respective respondents, including officers of the disbanded SARS.

He said the adjournment was necessary to enable the panel give fair hearing to all parties concerned.

Udeh said that it was the desire of the panel to ensure that its findings and recommendations concerning the petitions before them were dispatched in the most professional manner.

Recall that the panel resumed on June 21 after a long break arising from the nation-wide strike by Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria