Ex-Boko Haram spokesman drags DSS, AGF to court, demands N500,000 damages

A former spokesman of the terrorist groupie Boko Haram, Ali Konduga, has made allegations against the Director-General of the Department of State Security Services (DSS) and the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and sued them.

In his suit he filed through his counsel, Mohammed Tola, before Justice Samira Bature of the FCT High Court in Maitama, Abuja, he accused the AGF and DSS DG of breaching his fundamental rights and demanded for N500,000 aggravated damages.

He argued in his suit that he was kept in detention for an extra three years after serving his three-year jail term before he was released in 2016.

A Chief Magistrates’ Court in Abuja had convicted and sentenced Konduga to three years imprisonment for criminal intimidation in 2011.

But in his suit, he said he was kept in the custody of the DSS instead of the conventional prison to serve his term because the government wanted him to serve as a key witness to prove a terrorism charge against Ali Ndume, a senator, in a Federal High Court in Abuja.

He also claimed that as of the time of his release, he was never called to testify in the matter or any other matter.

Mr Konduga said he was taken to the DSS office in Maiduguri on September 8, 2016, and was released on September 9, 2016, to his parents.

According to him, upon handing him over to his parents, the DSS had offered his family the sum of N700,000 and said it should be used for his medical treatment.

This gesture, he argued, was a proof that the DSS knew he was entitled to compensation for his illegal and unlawful detention, adding that the Service refused to pay him any other compensation except the N700,000.

Konduga added that he was attacked and manhandled by some individuals in 2016 after his release, leading to him suffering a head injury.

Following the injury, he said police from GRA Police Station, Maiduguri, Borno, took him into protective custody and later referred him to the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital in Maiduguri.

READ ALSO: Senate asks FG to ensure release of Leah Sharibu, only Dapchi girl still in B’Haram captivity

Consequently, Konduga asked for a public apology in three national newspapers, and for the court to order the respondents to jointly and severally pay him N500,000 as aggravated damages and compensation for the ‘illegal’ detention.

The matter was on Thursday fixed for May 23 for hearing.

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