Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
The Adamawa State Police Command has rejected mounting allegations that it defied a Federal High Court order directing the immediate release of 42 Mubi residents, insisting that the detainees remain in custody not out of defiance but pursuant to a fresh warrant issued by another court of competent jurisdiction. The command's clarification, contained in a statement issued on Sunday, August 9, 2026, came in response to reports that the Commissioner of Police and the Controller of the Nigerian Correctional Service in the state had disobeyed the July 23 judgment of the Federal High Court and transferred the detainees from the correctional centre in Yola to Numan Prison instead of releasing them.
The police statement sought to draw a careful legal distinction between the Federal High Court's ruling and the subsequent actions of the state authorities. According to the command, the Federal High Court proceedings primarily concerned the jurisdiction of the court that had initially issued the remand warrant and the legality of the detainees' detention. "For clarity: The initial proceeding concerning the affected person based on the ruling of the court, primarily was on the issue of jurisdiction and non-compliance with due process of law especially on the Court that issued warrant of arrest and their remand to correctional centre, i.e. CMC2 Yola," the statement read.
The police explained that following the Federal High Court's ruling, the Attorney-General of Adamawa State exercised his constitutional powers by instituting fresh criminal proceedings against the affected persons before the Chief Magistrate Court 1, Mubi. The Mubi court subsequently issued a Warrant of Arrest of Persons Accused, dated July 28, 2026, directing law enforcement and correctional authorities to execute the warrant and produce the accused persons before the court. The warrant was issued in the name of the Attorney-General of the state as complainant. "It is therefore important to clarify that the Police did not act unilaterally or in defiance of the Federal High Court, but in furtherance of her mandate to maintain law and order and the execution of warrant issued by another court of competent jurisdiction against the applicants/defendants which has nothing to do with the ruling of the Federal High Court," the command said.
The dispute, however, raises a significant legal question over the effect of a fresh criminal proceeding and warrant on a previous judicial order that had declared the arrest and continued detention of the affected persons illegal. The 42 residents were arrested by police officers in Mubi on May 6, 2026, and subsequently taken more than 200 kilometres to Yola. According to court documents cited in the earlier SaharaReporters report, the detainees were handcuffed, bundled into police vehicles and transported without being informed of the reasons for their arrest or the offences they were alleged to have committed. Upon arrival in Yola, they were detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Jimeta, before some of them were later transferred to the correctional centre in Yola.
The applicants said the police obtained a remand warrant from Chief Magistrate Court 2, Yola, on May 8, 2026, which was subsequently used to keep them in custody. They, however, challenged the legality of the remand order, arguing that Mubi, where they were arrested, falls under the Mubi Magisterial District and is over 200 kilometres from Yola. They contended that Chief Magistrate Court 2, Yola, lacked territorial jurisdiction to issue the remand order in respect of persons arrested in Mubi. The detainees further alleged that since their arrest, the police had neither conducted an investigation into the alleged offence nor informed them of the specific offence they were accused of committing. They also said they had not been charged or arraigned before any court of competent jurisdiction despite spending almost three months in detention.
The detainees, through their lawyer, Abubakar Ali, subsequently filed Suit No. FHC/YL/CS/16/2026 at the Federal High Court, Yola Division, seeking the enforcement of their fundamental rights. In a judgment delivered on July 23, 2026, the Federal High Court ruled in favour of the applicants and declared their arrest and continued detention illegal, unconstitutional, null and void. The court held that the arrest and continued detention of the applicants without confronting them with the facts and reasons for their arrests, without charge and without arraignment violated their rights to personal liberty and fair hearing guaranteed under Sections 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution and Articles 4, 5, 6 and 12(2) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. The court also declared the remand warrant obtained by the police from Chief Magistrate Court 2, Yola, in respect of the persons arrested in Mubi, illegal, null and void. The Federal High Court consequently ordered the police and correctional authorities to immediately release each of the 42 applicants upon each of them entering into a bond before the court to be of good behaviour for two years. The court further restrained the respondents, their agents, privies or assigns from arresting or detaining the applicants again on the same facts without following due process.
The police command's insistence that it has complied with the Federal High Court's judgment while simultaneously executing a fresh warrant from another court has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups and legal practitioners. Critics argue that the state's decision to institute fresh proceedings against the same individuals on the same facts undermines the authority of the Federal High Court and creates a dangerous precedent where executive and judicial authorities can circumvent court orders through procedural technicalities. The detainees, who have now spent over three months in custody, remain behind bars, their families and lawyers watching as a legal battle that was supposed to end on July 23 continues to unfold in a complex web of competing judicial directives. The question that now hangs over this case is whether the fresh warrant from Mubi represents a legitimate exercise of prosecutorial discretion or a deliberate strategy to override a court order that had declared the detention of 42 citizens unlawful.
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