A Federal High Court in Kano has ruled the road safety corps has no legal authority beyond federal highways
The Federal High Court sitting in Kano has barred the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from operating on state and local government roads, declaring the corps’ operations on township roads within Kano metropolis unlawful and a violation of citizens’ fundamental rights.
In a judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice M.S. Shuaibu ruled in favour of Abba Hikima, a Kano-based lawyer who sued the FRSC over its activities in July 2025.
Why the court ruled against FRSC on state roads
The judge held that the road safety corps officers acted outside their statutory powers by stopping, questioning and delaying motorists on township roads. He said the actions breached the constitutional rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement guaranteed under sections 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
The dispute stemmed from an incident on 1 and 2 July 2025, when FRSC operatives mounted checkpoints on township roads in Kano and stopped motorists, including Hikima, demanding driver’s licences and questioning them despite the absence of any primary traffic offence. Hikima subsequently approached the Federal High Court, arguing that the corps had unlawfully violated his fundamental rights, and that the FRSC’s statutory mandate covers only federal highways, not state or local government roads.
What the court ordered against FRSC
The judge granted all the reliefs sought by Hikima, including a perpetual injunction restraining the road safety corps personnel, its officers, agents and privies from stopping, harassing, interrogating or delaying motorists on Kano state roads without lawful authority.
The court also ordered the corps to publish a public apology in a national newspaper and awarded the applicant N800,000 in damages and costs.
The judgment was delivered in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed against the FRSC and its Kano State Command, and is considered a landmark ruling on the limits of the corps’ jurisdiction outside federal highways.
