Sunday Igboho: Appeal Court Sets Aside N20bn Damages Awarded Against DSS

The Court of Appeal, Oyo State Division, has nullified the N20 billion exemplary and aggravated damages awarded to Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho, against the Department of State Security.

An Oyo State High Court presided over by Justice Ladiran Akintola had in September 2021 awarded N20 billion damages against the Department of State Service for the attack on Igboho’s residence in Ibadan where two persons were killed and property destroyed.

But delivering judgment on the appeal filed by the DSD on Tuesday, Justice Muslim Hassan of the Ibadan Division of the Appeal Court set aside the judgment that declared the attack on Igboho’s house illegal, describing the award for damages against the DSS as outrageous.

In his ruling, Justice Hassan stated that the Oyo State High Court ignored the grounds for the case in acquiring jurisdiction and that the judge should not have decided on the award of damages based on his own preferences.

Igboho had asked the lower court through his counsel, Chief Yomi Aliyyu (SAN), to order the respondents to jointly pay him the sum of ₦500 million as special damages for the damage done to his house and his car and another ₦500 billion as exemplary and aggravated damages for breaching his fundamental rights with the malicious invasion of his house as well as an order directing the Federal Government and the other respondents to tender a public apology in two national dailies.

He said the suit was filed to enforce his fundamental human rights, pursuant to Sections 33-46 of the 1999 Constitution as amended and relevant articles of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.