Oyo State High Court sitting in Ibadan, yesterday, ordered the Federal Government to pay Sunday Adeyemo, a.k.a Sunday Igboho N20 billion for breaching his fundamental rights.
The court also dismissed an application filed by the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami, challenging its jurisdiction to hear allegations against Federal Government agencies.
Igboho had sued the AGF, the Department of State Services (DSS) and the director of the DSS in Oyo State, demanding N500 billion in damages over the raid on his Ibadan home on July 1, this year.
He also sought an order of the court directing the respondents to return all the items seized from his house.
He listed the items to include N2 million cash, travel documents, gold jewelry, wristwatches, two mobile phones and other items yet unknown but which were allegedly carted away by the DSS. Two persons were said to have been killed while 12 others were arrested following the raid.
Counsel to the AGF, Abubakar Abdullahi, had filed an application challenging the jurisdiction of a state High Court to hear matters pertaining to the activities of the federal agencies.
However, delivering judgment in the suit, Justice Ladiran Akintola, declared that the raid carried out by the Department of State Service (DSS) on Igboho’s residence in Ibadan was illegal.
Citing several judgments by the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal with regard to the jurisdiction of the state High Court to hear such cases, Justice Akintola ruled that the court had jurisdiction to hear the case.
He declared that the invasion of the house of the applicant violated his fundamental human rights as stipulated in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended.
“Unfortunately, this court is not a Father Christmas and cannot award the sum of N500 billion as requested by the applicant, but the court retrained the respondent from arresting or harassing the applicant.
“He has right to his free movement as contained in Section 35.1 (a)(b) of the 1999 Constitution as amended,” he ruled.
Justice Akintola also said that if the identities of the individual operatives of the DSS were determined, they would have been liable to pay the damages and not the Federal Government.
