Citizen sues govt, army over checkpoints, seeks ₦500bn

A citizen has filed a major lawsuit against the Nigerian federal government and military, seeking to dismantle military checkpoints across the country's southeastern region and demanding 500 billion naira in damages for alleged widespread rights violations. The fundamental rights suit was filed at the High Court of Enugu State on June 17, 2026, by Chinedu Agbodike on behalf of residents of the five states that constitute the Southeast geopolitical zone: Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, Imo, and Abia.

Named as respondents are the Chief of Army Staff, the Nigerian Army, the Attorney-General of the Federation, and the Federal Government of Nigeria. The applicant's legal team is led by lawyers including Aloy Ejimakor and Patrick Agazie.

The suit alleges that the "indiscriminate deployment" of military checkpoints and roadblocks across the Southeast has resulted in harassment, extortion, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, torture, degrading treatment, enforced disappearances, and extrajudicial killings of citizens. It contends these actions violate constitutional rights to life, dignity, personal liberty, and freedom of movement, as well as provisions of the African Charter on Human and...