NBA Sues British Airways For
Maltreatment Of Nigerian
The
Nigerian Bar Association has dragged the British Airways before
the Federal High Court in Lagos, following the maltreatment of
its Nigerian passenger, Mr Ayo Omotade.
In a motion ex-parte jointly filed by Omotade, NBA and its
President, Mr Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), the plaintiffs are seeking
the leave of the court to enforce Omotade‘s human rights against
the BA.
Omotade, a Nigerian citizen and an information technology
consultant based in Chatham, Kent, United Kingdom, was one of
the Nigerian passengers on a recent BA flight.
He was said to have expressed concern in the way a Nigerian
deportee, who was handcuffed and screaming in Pidgin English, I
go die o, was being restrained by the UK police officers.
Omotade, who reportedly pleaded with the officers not to kill
the deportee, was said to have been humiliated, handcuffed and
branded as a ‘disruptive passenger.‘
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare that the arrest,
detention, humiliation and the persecution of Omotade on March
27 on board the BA‘s flight BA075 from London to Lagos without
lawful justification was illegal.
They added that the development was a violation of Omotade‘s
rights to personal liberty, freedom of movement and expression,
protection against racial and ethnic discrimination and
protection from cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
The plaintiffs are also asking the court to restrain BA and its
agents from further arresting, molesting or persecuting Omotade.
Agbakoba also wants the court to hold that as a human rights
activist, public interest litigator and president of the NBA, he
is competent to initiate the suit on behalf of Nigerian
passengers numbering over 100 on the BA‘s flight in the public
interest.
NBA further urged the court to declare that as the umbrella
association of Nigerian lawyers with a stake in advancing the
human rights of Nigerians all over the world, it is competent to
join in filing the suit.
The plaintiffs are therefore demanding public apology from the
BA, saying that the apology should be published in five major
Nigerian dailies.
They are also asking the BA to pay compensatory damages to
Omotade for his unlawful arrest and detention.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the matter.
NP/MICHAEL
