COURT TO HEAR RIGHTS VIOLATION SUIT AGAINST NDLEA CHAIRMAN, OTHERS ON OCTOBER 2
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has scheduled October 2, 2025, for the definite hearing of a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by a 75-year-old businessman, Mr. Taiwo Kayode Alli, and his son, Hamid Alli, against the Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and four others. The applicants are seeking legal redress over what they describe as unlawful invasion, harassment, and seizure of personal property by NDLEA operatives.
Represented by their counsel, Yemi Okewoye, the Allis initiated the suit in response to a series of incidents that allegedly began on June 6, 2023, when Hamid returned home to discover their gate broken and a vehicle missing. The police later traced the vehicle to an NDLEA outpost, where the agency claimed it had been abandoned after suspected contraband was discovered in it.
According to Mr. Alli, NDLEA operatives raided their home while no one was present, including an upstairs apartment belonging to his brother who had lived abroad for three years. The operatives allegedly claimed that drugs were found in the kitchen and refrigerator. The applicants further accused the agency of storming their family-run butchery business, forcing open a safe, and taking away vital documents such as an international passport, ID card, and land documents belonging to Hamid Alli.
The applicants allege that NDLEA operatives later demanded N5.5 million for the return of the seized items and advised Hamid to leave the country and abandon the family enterprise. They also claim that a former NDLEA official, introduced by current operatives as a legal adviser, demanded an additional N30 million for the return of property documents linked to a Lekki residence legally owned by Hamid and registered in the Lagos Land Registry.
At the latest court session, NDLEA’s counsel, M. I. Ironta, acknowledged the agency’s non-compliance with a prior court order to pay N50,000 in costs. Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa subsequently adjourned the matter to October for a definite hearing.
The suit, filed under relevant provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the Fundamental Rights Enforcement Procedure Rules, seeks a court declaration that the NDLEA’s actions were unlawful, an injunction against further harassment, compensation for rights violations, and the return of all confiscated property, including the vehicle which the applicants claim is now in personal use by NDLEA operatives. As of the time of this report, the agency has not issued an official response.
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