Kaduna Court Fines Police N15M for Blocking ADC, SDP Rallies, Protects Right to Assemble

A Kaduna High Court has fined the State Commissioner of Police N15 million for violating the rights of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) to peaceful assembly.

Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Murtala Zubairu also issued a perpetual injunction barring the police commissioner, his officers, and agents from disrupting or interfering with lawful political meetings and rallies in the state.

The ruling followed the disruption of two political meetings on August 30 and September 4, 2025, involving former Kaduna State Governor Mallam Nasir El-Rufai and leaders of the ADC and SDP. The first meeting was reportedly broken up by thugs in the presence of police, while the second was halted by officers acting on an ex parte court order.

The police had filed a suit seeking to suspend all political gatherings in Kaduna State pending investigations into alleged threats of violence. Justice Zubairu dismissed the suit as incompetent and politically motivated, calling it an abuse of court process.

“The notion that the police can indefinitely suspend the fundamental rights of association and assembly of every political party in a state is an overreach and constitutes an abuse of statutory powers,” the judge said. “The duty of the police is to provide security for peaceful assemblies, not to ban them pre-emptively based on vague fears or speculative intelligence.”

The court ruled that the ex parte injunction obtained by the police violated Section 40 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly and association, and discharged it for procedural irregularities and lack of merit.

The N15 million award covers N5 million for the arbitrary suspension of the parties’ meetings, N5 million for obtaining a wrongful injunction, and N5 million for failure to investigate the reported attack. Justice Zubairu also directed the police commissioner to investigate the August 30 violence and submit a report to the Kaduna State Attorney-General within 60 days.

The judge warned that selective enforcement or suppression of opposition activities by law enforcement undermines public trust and democracy.