Osun Lady Assaulted By Police Officers During Lockdown Awarded N5 Million Damage

A young woman, Tola Azeez, who was assaulted by some police officers, has been awarded the sum of N5 million damages by a Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State capital.

Back in April 2020, Tola was attacked and flogged mercilessly by two police officers while she was walking along Odo Ori Market in Iwo, to buy a drug for a relative.

The two police officers, inspector Ikuesan Taiwo and corporal Abass Ibrahim, were later arrested for brutalising the woman on the pretext of enforcing COVID-19 lockdown order in the state.

The victim through her lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, filed a fundamental human right enforcement suit against the Nigerian Police Force and the Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Adamu.

During the hearing on Monday, the police counsel, F.B Osei, argued that the Nigeria Police Force and the IGP could not be held liable for the acts and omission of its officers.

The claim of the police counsel was however opposed by Mr Olajensgbesi who affirmed that the officers carried out the assault during an official assignment as agents of the police force.

Delivering his judgement, Justice Ayo Emmanuel, resolved the matter in favour of the applicant saying that, the actions of the offending officers in the discharge of their official duties as agents of the police amounted to an infringement of the Fundamental Right to Dignity of Ms Azeez, a liability the Nigeria Police Force must shoulder.

The court then awarded the sum of N5 million as aggravated and general damages against the Nigerian police and the Inspector General of Police.

KanyiDaily had also published a video showing the moment a Nigerian police officer shot a man who was speaking up against the assault on his neighbor in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.