Court Fines DSS N1m Over Illegal Detention Of Sowore
Omoyele Sowore, a human rights activist, was arrested and detained in 2019 and the Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay him N1 million in damages.
Justice Obiora Egwuatu decided that Sowore’s arrest and incarceration were unconstitutional and illegal in a decision on the activist’s basic rights lawsuits.
The court ruled that the former presidential candidate’s detention violated his basic human rights, and ordered the secret police to pay the fee to the activist.
Remember that the activist had challenged his illegal kidnapping at a Lagos hotel for calling on Nigerians to march to the streets to protest terrible governance, insecurity, and corruption.
On November 15, 2019, the activist filed a lawsuit, FHC/ABJ/CS/1407/2019, against Yusuf Bichi, Director-General of the Department of State Services (DSS), and Abubakar Malami, Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, for his unlawful arrest and imprisonment.
The activist, through his lawyer, Abubakar Marshal, asked the court to declare his unlawful detention by the DSS as “illegal and a gross violation of his fundamental right to liberty”.
He also urged the court to order the DSS to pay him 500 million naira in general and aggravated damages for infringing on the applicant’s basic rights to life, dignity, fair hearing, health, freedom of movement, and freedom of association.
Be the first to comment