Nollywood actor, Mr. Babatunde Omidina, popularly called Baba Suwe, said on Sunday that he would file another suit worth billions of naira against the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency for allegedly dehumanising him while in the agency’s custody.
His lawyer, Mr. Bamidele Aturu, said at a press conference in Lagos that Baba Suwe would file the fresh suit after November 24, when judgment would be delivered in the N100m Fundamental Human Rights Enforcement suit he had earlier filed against the NDLEA.
Baba Suwe, who regained freedom on November 4 after 24 days in NDLEA custody, had earlier filed the suit at a Lagos High Court in Ikeja, demanding N100m compensation from the agency for allegedly violating his fundamental human rights to liberty through unlawful detention.
According to Aturu, the fresh suit is to make NDLEA account for various dehumanising conditions the agency subjected Baba Suwe to.
Aturu said his client was treated like "a common criminal" when he was arrested on October 12. He said officials of NDLEA put chains in his leg and were almost beating him before "reason prevailed."
Aturu also alleged that on November 2, Baba Suwe was taken to an NDLEA hospital in Ikoyi, where his "system was flushed" against the actor’s consent. He alleged that after the flushing, Baba Suwe started defeacating. He added that gloves were put in his hands and the NDLEA officials asked the actor to be searching for banned drugs in his excreta.
He said, "We are already working on an action, that will take the NDLEA to account for some of its actions; preferably after the judgment on November 24. This is not about Baba Suwe, this is about the fundamental human rights of Nigerians. We are going to file the suit against NDLEA and it is going to be in the neighbourhood of billions."
Baba Suwe, while fielding some questions from journalists, alleged that the entire process of his arrest and detention for alleged drug trafficking was a set up, an allegation his lawyer also corroborated.
Aturu said, "On October 12, 2011, while on his way to board an Air France flight to Paris for his own private engagement, he was accosted by a woman at the counter of the NDLEA. The woman asked her to proceed to see some NDLEA officials on suspicion that he had ingested some banned narcotic substances.
"It became very clear to us that NDLEA had made up its mind to arrest him even before doing any scan. So they apparently were acting on a tip off, because as he got to the airport the woman just accosted him. She asked him to meet the NDLEA officials and they now took him to the scan test and they then told him that he had tested positive."
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