Former Personal Assistant to the first lady of Nigeria, Mrs. Aisha Buhari, Mrs. Zainab Kassim, has filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit against the former.
Kassim was the personal assistant for four years from June 2015 to September 2019 and was later appointed as special assistant to the President in the Office of the First Lady from September 2019 to February 2022, when she was disengaged.
On November 18, 2022, acting on the orders of Mrs. Buhari, DSS officers arrested Mrs. Kassim and took her to the Presidential Villa, where she was allegedly assaulted, dehumanised and abused by the first lady herself and officers of the DSS and Police on unsubstantiated accusations of deleting the First Lady’s posts on social media.
Kassim was eventually detained in very horrible conditions for four days and was denied access to her family, lawyers and medications, even though she informed them that she was hypertensive. In the course of her incarceration, she fainted and had to be rushed to hospital for medical treatment.
Even after her release, persons acting on behalf of the First Lady have continued to threaten and harass her to desist from any attempt to seek redress in court over the breach of her rights by the First Lady.
Sterling Solicitors, counsel to Mrs. Kassim, have filed a fundamental rights enforcement suit against Buhari, the Director-General of DSS and the Inspector-General of Police respectively at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja claiming damages in the tune of N100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million Naira).
The suit also contained that the actions of the Respondents were unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, null, void and constitutes a violation of her rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement.
It added that threats by the agents of the second and third respondents to the applicant of further abduction, arrest, detention and assassination if she brings any claims for fundamental rights enforcement against the respondents is unconstitutional, unlawful, illegal, constitutes torture and a violation of her rights to life, fair hearing and dignity of human person.
The applicant also filed for an order directing the second respondent to release the applicant’s Note 20 Ultra Mobile Phone to her immediately and an order restraining the respondents either by themselves or their agents or subordinates from further abducting, arresting, detaining, torturing or threatening to abduct, arrest, detain or assassinate the applicant or otherwise violating the fundamental rights of the applicant.
