The Director-General of the National TaskForce to Combat Illegal Importation of Small Arms, Ammunition and Light Weapons, Chief Emmanuel Osita Okereke, has asked a High Court in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja to declare his removal as National President of the Importers Association of Nigeria as illegal.
The plaintiff, in the suit filed by his lawyer, Chibuzor Ezike, demanded a N200 million damage from the Registered Trustees of IMAN.
No date has been fixed for the hearing.
Okereke asked the court to declare that his purported removal as National President of IMAN violated Article 12, 18 and 21 of the constitution of the association.
A copy of the court processes were obtained by journalists on Wednesday in Abuja.
Also joined as 2nd to 6th defendants are Chief Gilbert Bravo Obi, Chief Obong Patrick Udoh, Alhaji Dr. Bature Abdulaziz, Alhaji Aliyu Ahmed Yar’Adua and Hon. Kingsley Chikezie.
Okereke, a former presidential candidate of the African Liberation Party, also asked the court to declare that the Board of Trustees of IMAN “has no power whatsoever to remove and/or sack any national officer of the association vis-a-vis the power given to it under Article 12 of the constitution of the association”.
According to him, his purported removal as IMAN President and the DG of NATFORCE in the association over alleged criminal offence without giving him any opportunity to be heard amounted to a breach of his fundamental human rights as enshrined in constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and African Charter on Human and Peoples Right 2004 is null, void and unconstitutional.
The plaintiff also wants an order restraining the respondents to retract the publications with an apology through same newspapers.
Okereke also demanded an order of perpetual injunction restraining the respondents from further attempts to remove or sack him by any other means not permitted by the constitution of IMAN and laws of Nigeria.
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