By ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi-
A Federal High Court sitting in Bauchi has ordered the Nigeria Police Force to pay the sum of N210 million as compensation for the torture which led to the death of two people and injury to the third person.
The three accused persons: Abdulwahab Bello, Ibrahim Babangida and Ibrahim Samaila, were beaten by the Divisional Police Officer of the Township Division, SP Baba Ali, on July 21, 2020 over alleged theft of chickens belonging to a retired police officer.
The torture led to the death of Samaila and Babangida while Bello survived with life threatening injuries.
The surviving victim (Bello), then slammed three separate suits demanding N150 million each for himself and his two friends against the police as damages and compensation.
The defendants in the case inlude: The DPO of Township Division, Superintendent of Police Baba Ali who is the 1st defendant; Sergeant Jibril Mohammed, 2nd defendant; Inspector General of Police, 3rd defendant; Commissioner of Police Bauchi State, 4th defendant and the Police Service Commission as 5th defendant, were all joined in the three seperate suits, instituted at the Federal High Court, Bauchi, on October 22, 2020.
The Presiding Judge, Justice Hassan Dikko, who delivered the three judgements separately against the respondents during the Court’s sitting on Friday, said that the action of the Police against the three accused amounted to an infringement of their fundamental human rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as ammended).
Justice Dikko declared that the actions of the respondents against the three accused were “callous, cruel and uncivilized”, as they arrested, detained and brutalized the applicant by tying him firmly on a tree and used a pestle to cause grievous injury and caused fracture on his leg.
The judge therefore awarded the sum of N100 million each to the biological mothers of the two deceased and N10 million to the mother of the survivor as compensation and general damages, with 10 percent interest rate per annum until the total amounts are fully paid.
In an interview with journalists shortly after the Court’s sitting, Counsel to the three applicants, Barrister Muktar Usman, hailed the judgement saying that the justice served to these victims of human rights abuses would be a motivation to others to seek for justice.
He said: “This judgement will go a long way to give succour to Nigerians for the fact that in the past people nearly lost hope in the judicial system but with this kind of judgement, we are now becoming more confident in the judicial system than ever before, and if people always pursue their rights, this is the same results they will get.”
Similarly, the counsel to the respondents, Barrister Abubakar Kobi, said that they would immediately appeal the court’s judgement, even as he expressed optimism of victory at the appellate court.