JUDGEMENT in a suit filed by a Jos-based businessman, Mr. Chijoke Achi, against the Special Task Force (STF) and an Army Colonel, has been reserved for December 10.
Achi is suing for N200m in a case of assault and battery.
The suit, brought through the Fundamental Rights Procedure, is challenging the respondents of criminal intimidation, physical assault and wanton destruction of property.
At the weekend, both counsel to the applicant, Mr. Uche Mgbemena, and the defence counsel, Mr. A.B James, adopted all their written addresses in the court.
In the suit filed on behalf of the applicant, Mgbemena said the Colonel had in March this year bought a computer but later returned it after a month through a soldier, claiming that it was bad. He said on April 2, soldiers came to his shop to complain about the computer.
The applicant said he called a computer engineer nearby, who, in the presence of the soldiers, certified it okay, but that the soldiers insisted that the Colonel wanted his money to be refunded.
According to him, the soldiers left the computer in his shop and advised him to resell it to another customer.
The applicant expressed surprise when, on April 4, the first soldier, who was sent by the Colonel to buy the computer, this time in company of his colleagues and one Assistant superintendent of Police (ASP), invaded his shop and brutalised him.
According to Achi, when he demanded to know his offence, the soldiers did not listen but dragged him out of his shop, assaulted him and damaged some of his goods.
He said the soldiers demanded N25,000 (the amount paid for the computer), and when he told them that he had no money, they became furious and brutalised him the more.
"They threatened that they would shoot me and brand me a member of Boko Haram and nothing would happen. After that, they ordered me into their waiting patrol van with the inscription 'Sector 2 Peace 10."
He further stated that he alighted from the van when some policemen arrived the scene and the soldiers drove away. He added that he contacted the STF through their then spokesman, Captain Mdahyelya Markus, who did not pick his calls or respond to text messages.
But the respondent's counsel, A. B. James, had earlier told the court that one Corporal Alhassan Ladan, on September 4, walked to the chamber and informed him, among other things, that he indeed bought a Desktop with a printer from the applicant but they could not be tested because of power outage but was assured of their perfect working condition, and the applicant guaranteed a refund should there be any fault. "To further cement the assurance, he gave him his phone number."
According to James, the applicant was never assaulted or dehumanised, adding that there was no single threat to his life. "The applicant's cloth was never torn, neither was he dragged on the floor as he alleged."
At this stage, Mr. Justice Ambrose Allagoa of the Federal High Court fixed December 10 for judgement.
