A Federal High Court in Osun, on Thursday, awarded N2 million damages against the police and two others in favour of one Yekeen Abass over his unlawful arrest and prolonged detention.
The judge, Peter Lifu, delivered the judgment in a fundamental human rights suit brought by Abass against the state’s Commissioner of Police, and two officers, Adams Adam and Abiodun Olalekan, as first, second and third respondents respectively.
The Applicant had sued the respondents following his unlawful detention and human rights violation sometimes in 2017 at the State Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Osogbo.
Lifu held that the police unlawfully detained the plaintiff for more than 48 hours, as required by law, without finding any fault against him or charging him to court.
He said that the unlawful detention led to the complainant coming to seek justice over the abuse of his fundamental rights.
The judge also noted that the third respondent also failed to appear in court during the trial to defend the suit instituted against him.
He further held that the fundamental rights of the complainant were truly violated as the respondents failed to defend the case against them.
He said that Abass, a tailor, was detained unlawfully and later released from police custody without any charges or proof of theft against him.
The complainant was arrested and detained by the police after Olalekan accused him of stealing his floor tiles kept at his uncompleted building site.
The judge said, though the police were duty bound to arrest and investigate suspects, detaining them for more than 48 hours was unlawful.
