Justice John Tsoho of the Federal High Court in Lagos on Tuesday fixed April 20, 2015 for further hearing in a suit filed by former Governor of Lagos State and national leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu against the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Minimah. Tinubu sued Minimah over the deployment of soldiers to lay siege on his No. 26 Bourdillon Street, Ikoyi, Lagos home between February 9 and 11, 2015 on "an order from above". Justice Tsoho had, on March 26, granted an interim injunction, banning the military siege on Tinubu's home and stopping any possible arrest or detention of the applicant during the period of the general elections. After granting the order, the judge adjourned till Tuesday to take the substantive suit. But at the resumed proceeding, only the applicant's lawyer, Chukwuma Onwuemene, holding the brief of Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), was in court. Minimah was not represented. Onwuemene, however, prayed the court for a short adjournment saying, "My Lord, considering the nature of this application, we humbly pray for a very short date." But Tsoho recalled that the applicant had already secured an interim injunction shielding him from arrest and intimidation by the military, adding that the court could not give any date before the Easter vacation. He therefore adjourned till April 20 for hearing. Tinubu is seeking a declaration of the court that the military siege on his home was an infringement on his fundamental human right to private and family life protected under Section 37 of the Constitution. The former governor of Lagos State also considered the military action as a violation of sections 35 and 42 of the Constitution as well as Articles 2 and 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act. He claimed that the military siege on him home caused him and his family "psychological and mental tortue." Tinubu's personal assistant, Sunday Dare, who deposed to an affidavit in support of the action, said, "That the applicant was exposed to embarrassment as many members of the public asked whether he committed any offence, which warranted the siege. "That the siege portrayed him as a hardened criminal in the society." Tsoho restrained Minimah and his privies from "arresting, detaining, harassing or intimidating the applicant," until the determination of the substantive suit. The judge ordered the military not to hinder Tinubu from participating in the 2015 general elections.Sun
