A Federal High Court sitting in Kano has ruled that the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) lacks the authority to operate on state and local government roads.
The court has also declared the actions in Kano metropolis unlawful and a violation of citizens’ fundamental rights.
Delivering judgment on Thursday in the case filed by Kano-based lawyer, Abba Hikima, against the FRSC, Hon. Justice M. S. Shuaibu held that the commission’s officers acted outside their jurisdiction when they stopped, questioned, and delayed motorists on township roads
The court declared that such actions infringed on the constitutional rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement guaranteed under Sections 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution as amended
The court granted all the principal reliefs sought by the applicant, including a perpetual injunction restraining FRSC officers from further stopping or harassing motorists on Kano State roads without lawful authority.
It also ordered the commission to issue a public apology in a national newspaper and awarded N800,000 in damages and costs to the applicant.
The dispute began in July last year, when FRSC operatives in Kano mounted checkpoints on township roads and stopped motorists, including Hikima, demanding driver’s licences and interrogating them without any primary traffic offence.
He approached the Federal High Court to challenge what he described as an unlawful violation of his fundamental rights.
Hikima argued that the FRSC’s statutory powers only extend to federal highways, not state or local government roads.
