The federal high court in Kano has barred Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from operating on States and local government road, emphasizing that it lack the power to do so.
Daily Trust reports that the rulling follows a dispute which began in July last year when FRSC operatives in Kano mounted checkpoints on township roads and stopped motorists, including Abba Hikima, demanding driver’s licences and interrogating them without any primary traffic offence.
Hikima, a Kano-based lawyer was said to have approached the Federal High Court, challenging what he described as an unlawful violation of his fundamental rights.
The court has also declared the actions in Kano metropolis unlawful and a violation of citizens’ fundamental rights.
Hikima argued that the FRSC’s statutory powers only extend to federal highways, not state or local government roads.
Delivering judgment on the matter on Thursday, the presiding judge, 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 in July 2025.
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.
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.
