The Federal High Court sitting in Ado-Ekiti has imposed a N5 million fine on the Department of State Services for illegally arresting and detaining a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Afolabi Akanni.
Akanni who represents Efon Constituency 1 was on March 4 arrested by DSS operatives for alleged breach of security regulations. He was eventually released on March 22. Counsel to Akanni, Obafemi Adewale, told the judge, Taiwo Taiwo that his client could not be physically present on Wednesday because he was still receiving “post-traumatic” treatment in a hospital outside the state.
In his judgement, the judge noted that the Respondent, DSS, had failed to either deny or defend the position, facts and allegations of the applicant. He said in the eyes of the law, “there is no basis for the court to believe that all that the applicant had alleged against the DSS were not true.
” According to him, 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, had been violated by the DSS in illegally arresting and detaining him for 18 days. The court also granted three out of the four reliefs sought by the applicant’s counsel, which are, “whether the applicant’s unlawful arrest and detention is justified , whether the said intimidation, torture and continued detention is not a violation of his fundamental human rights and a violation of the Rule of Law, and whether the applicant’s is not entitled to damages”.
