A serving senior officer with the Nigerian Army, Colonel Mohammed Alhassan Ma’aji, has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja against the Federal Government over what he described as illegal and prolong incarceration since September 2025.
Col Ma’aji through an originating motion filed under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 2009, is demanding his immediate release and seeking ₦500 million in damages.
In the suit, the Attorney General of the Federation, the Chief of Army Staff, the Nigerian Army, and the Chief of Defence Intelligence are respondents.
Ma’aji’s legal team which is being led by Olalekan Ojo, SAN, argued that holding him for over six months without a formal charge constituted a gross violation of his constitutional rights to personal liberty and human dignity.
The filed court documents indicated that Colonel Ma’aji was taken into custody on September 30, 2025 after he was reportedly arrested alongside several others on allegations of conspiring to overthrow the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu led federal government.
Ma’aji in the suit, claimed that he has been held at a military facility in Abuja and completely cut off from his family, lawyers, and necessary medical attention, stressing that the failure of the government to bring him before a competent court within a reasonable timeframe violates Sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The serving Army officer is praying the court for a declaration that his ongoing detention is unconstitutional and an order for his immediate and unconditional release.
Ma’aji through his counsel prayed the court that in the alternative, should compel the respondents to arraign him in court within seven days and the payment of ₦500 million as financial compensation for the months spent in unlawful custody.
An affidavit filed by a litigation officer in his counsel’s chambers states: “The applicant has been held incommunicado since his arrest, with no formal charges brought against him despite claims that investigations have been concluded”.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit by the court.
