BEVERLY HILLS, CA, May 01, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Prison Service (NPS) has been dragged to court over alleged infringement and violation of rights.
Charles Okah, who is accused of masterminding the October 1, 2010 Abuja bomb blast, slammed the N500million suit against the Prison authorities over alleged infringement of his right to life.
Okah is being prosecuted alongside Obi Nwabueze over the bomb explosion in which about 12 Nigerians were killed and several others were injured. The accused are charged with a one-count charge with 22 particulars of overt acts of treason and another eight-count charge of terrorism.
Maintaining that the prison authorities locked him up in a cell while it was being fumigated, Okah said the chemicals he inhaled from the fumigated cell was nauseating, making him to be weak.
He accused the prison authorities of seizing the drugs brought for him by his wife for his treatment, alleging that drugs meant for the treatment of epilepsy was prescribed for him even when he had no history of epilepsy.
His lawyer, Mr Festus. Keyamo, who filed the suit on Okah’s behalf, joined the Minister of Interior, the Comptroller of Prisons and the Nigerian Prisons Service as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants.
He is therefore asking the court to declare the action of the Prison authorities as a breach of his Fundamental Human Right to life and dignity of his person, as guaranteed by Sections 33 (1)and 34 (1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, (as amended).
Okah also sought a declaration that the administration on him of a drug called Epilim Sodium Viproate, (ESV), primarily used for the ailment of epilepsy, when he was not epileptic and had no history of epilepsy, by the officers of Kuje Prisons, Abuja amounted to a breach of his Fundamental Human Right to life and dignity of his person as guaranteed by Sections 33 (1)and 34 (1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, (as amended).
He also asked the court for a declaration that the deliberate refusal of the officers of Kuje Prisons, Abuja to give him medication for the treatment of his hypertension and high blood pressure, amounted to a breach of the Fundamental Human Right to life and dignity of his person, as guaranteed by Sections 33 (1) and 34 (1) (a) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, (as amended).
He is also asking among other things that the court should mandate the officers of Kuje Prisons, Abuja to allow him access to proper medication as and when due as well as an order restraining the officers of Kuje Prisons, Abuja from further administering the drug called Epilim Sodium Viproate, (ESV), primarily used for the ailment of epilepsy, and any other harmful drug on him.
Though Okah’s trial was stalled by the failure of the Federal Government to furnish the Federal High Court in Abuja with his psychiatric evaluation report, the trial judge, Justice Gabriel Kolawole, has ordered the National Hospital to produce the report at the next adjourned date on May 12.
