A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has ordered the Inspector-General of Police and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to pay N10 million in damages to some #EndSARS protesters for the violation of their fundamental rights.
Trial judge, Justice Musa Kakaki, in his judgment, held that the applicant/protesters were unjustly harassed and their constitutional rights were infringed upon while participating in the fourth memorial rally held on October 20, 2024.
Justice Kakaki further held that while law enforcement agencies hold constitutional powers to maintain order, such authority must be exercised within the confines of democracy and the rule of law.
The judge affirmed that the applicants were entitled to the constitutional right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association as contained in the Nigerian Constitution.
The applicants before the court include Hassan Soweto, Uadiale Kingsley, Ilesanmi Kehinde, Osopale Adeseye, Olamilekan Sanusi, and Miss Osugba Blessing, among others.
They were joined by groups such as the Education Rights Campaign, ERC, Take It Back Movement, TIBM, and Campaign for the Defence of Human Rights, CDHR.
The #EndSARS protesters in the suit had claimed that during the procession, police officers fired live ammunition and tear gas, brutally beat protesters, and carried out arbitrary arrests.
They added that the arrested demonstrators were allegedly held in a Black Maria (mobile detention cell) for hours before being transferred to Panti Police Station, where they remained in custody for four hours before their release.
“The 1st – 3rd respondents deployed the full might of the police force against the applicants under the guise that they exercised their constitutionally guaranteed rights outside a location permitted by the 4th and 5th respondents,” Joseph Opute, a lawyer to the applicants, stated in the suit.
In an affidavit, one of the victims, Hassan Soweto, the first applicant and coordinator of the Education Rights Campaign, stated that he and other protesters were beaten, tear-gassed, and unlawfully detained without charge.