From Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan

Justice Ladiran Akintola of an Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan on Friday awarded N20billion exceptional and aggravated damages against the Federal Government and the Department of State Security (DSS) in a case of fundamental human rights instituted by the Yoruba Nation agitator, Chief Sunday Adeyemo, also known as Sunday Igboho.

The court also granted all the 16 reliefs sought by Igboho, through his counsel, Chief Yomi Alliyu (SAN), and awarded additional cost of N2million against the respondents jointly and in favour of Igboho. The reliefs included a restraining order for the Federal Government and security agencies not to intimidate, harass and freeze Igboho’s bank accounts.

The three respondents in the case with number M/435/2021 are Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN), as the first respondent, as well as SSS as second respondent and Director of SSS in Oyo State as third respondent.

Igboho had demanded N500billion as reparation for damages to his property, such as his house and  exotic cars that include Mercedes Benz G-Class and 2019 Lexus Car during the invasion of his residence at Soka, Ibadan, Oyo State in the early hours of Thursday July 1, 2021 by DSS operatives.

Justice Akintola had adjourned the case for either ruling or judgment, saying the case would be for ruling if the preliminary objections raised by the three respondents in the case succeeded, but would be for judgment if the objections failed.

Deciding the preliminary objection yesterday, the court held that it did not find merit in the objection by the first respondent, who argued through his counsel, Abdullahi Abubakar, that the court lacked jurisdiction among other things to entertain the case.

In the main suit, Justice Akintola held that the reckless and indiscriminate shooting undertaken by the second and third respondents and their agents, which resulted in the death of two persons in Igboho’s house, was in itself, a threat to the life of the applicant. He added that nobody shoots guns in order to entertain people. Such a conduct, the court held, has a serious potential of killing the victim, and at best constituting a serious threat to the life of the victim.

“In the absence of any evidence that Nigeria was in a state of war, the style and procedure adopted by the second and third respondents and their agents in this case, is highly condemnable, reprehensible, crude and most unprofessional,” the court said.

Justice Akintola held further that with the benefit of hindsight, given the number of guns, arms allegedly recovered from the Igboho’s premises on the fateful night, relative to the harm, damage and deaths, plus trauma inflicted on, not only the applicant, his households, guests, and neighbourhood, “it is very doubtful if it worth the exercise at all.”

According to the court, it was not only the applicant that would have been traumatised by the overzealous and recklessness of the second and third respondents and their agents, the entire neighbourhood of the applicant’s residence was thrown into serious squabbles and troubles.

“The style adopted by the second and third respondents in the case should be condemned in strongest possible terms, especially even the fact that they are maintained by the Nigerian taxpayers. And yet they did not hesitate to unleash such mayhem on a Nigerian citizen, who has not been pronounced guilty of any crime by any court of the land,” Justice Akintola said.

The court also stated that if the identity of individual agent of the second and third respondents that undertook this most bizarre and horrendous operation was known they would have been held liable for the serious infraction.

Counsel to Igboho, Alliyu described the judgment as a victory for democracy in an interview with journalists after the court session, while counsel to Malami, Abdullahi Abubakar, declined an interview with journalists who wanted to know if his client would challenge the judgment at the Court of Appeal. But counsel to second and third respondents, T.A. Nurudeen, was not in court.