The Federal High Court, Ado Ekiti has ruled that the Department of State Services,DSS should pay a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly Afolabi Akanni N5m as damages citing his arrest and incarceration as illegal.
Justice Taiwo Taiwo, who presided over the trial, gave his judgement said the DSS trampled on Akanni’s fundamental rights as a citizen of Nigeria as specified by the principles of the Rule of Law and the African Charter on the rights of individuals by illegally arresting him and detaining him for 18 days.
He also condemned his arrest and “continued detention for 18 harrowing, excruciating and brain cudgeling days, without access to his lawyers and family.”
Afolabi Akanni was arrested by the DSS on March 4 and detained for 18 days without being charged to court.
He was released 18 days after his arrest and had approached the court through his lawyer Obafemi Adewale, who filed a suit on the DSS and demanded for damages.
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