Falana sues Nigerian govt over incessant killings by herdsmen

A Lagos based human rights lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), has instituted a case against the Federal Government before the Federal High Court in Abuja for failing to address issues of incessant killings by armed herdsmen and other militias across the country.

The lawyer in the suit, which he filed on January 31, 2018 and marked FHC/ABJ/CS/114/2018, is praying the court to declare the wanton killings of innocent Nigerians by killer herdsmen across the country as illegal and unconstitutional.

He further prayed the court to mandate the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN), and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, to disarm and prosecute suspected herdsmen who had taken part “in the murder of unarmed citizens” across the country.

In the suit which Falana filed through his lawyer, Mrs. Funmi Falana, soon after the killings of 73 persons by herdsmen in Benue State, had the AGF, the Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Chief Audu Ogbeh, and the IG as respondents.

The plaintiff frowned that the Federal Government failed to disarm the herdsmen after promising since 2016 to do so, adding that “the Federal Government of Nigeria has failed or refused to establish the ranches thereby further and unwittingly encouraging and stoking farmers/herdsmen clashes across Nigeria.”

He said, “Armed herdsmen have killed several people in the Federal Capital Territory, Lagos, Ogun, Ekiti, Cross River, Enugu, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Adamawa, Taraba, and other states of the federation.”

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Meanwhile, the AGF has kicked against the suit, praying the court to dismiss the suit, arguing that the killings were not due to the Federal Government’s negligence. He said that Falana has no evidence to show that the alleged killings were by herdsmen.

According to Malami, for it to be accepted that “persons have been killed as a result of herdsmen killings due to the negligence of the Federal Government, there must be sufficient evidence and particulars before my lord, establishing the names of the persons killed, their identities, the cause of death and the negligence of the Federal Government leading to the alleged deaths of the persons.”

Malami stated this in his response filed on March 8, 2018, praying the court to dismiss Falana’s suit for lack of evidence.

 

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