Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa of a Federal High Court in Anambra has.ordered the Department of State Services and other security agencies to pay N102 million damages to Ifeanyi Ejiofor, the lawyer to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu, for invading his house.
The court said the invasion of his house at Oraifite, Anambra State, on June 6, 2021 by security agents amounted to a violation of his fundamental rights.
The court also went ahead to award him N5 million being the cost of his Toyota Camry car which was burnt by security agencies.
Ejiofor had in a fundamental rights enforcement suit with No: FHC/AWK/CS/56/2021, dragged the government to court to challenge the invasion of his ancestral home in Oraifite, in the state on June 6, 2021, alleging that an aide of his was killed during the exercise.
The eight defendants in the suit were the Nigeria Police Force; the Inspector General of Police; the State Security Service; the Director-General, State Security Service; the Nigerian Security And Civil Defence Corps; the Nigerian Army; the Chief of Army Staff and Chukwuka Ofoegbu.
Delivering judgment, Justice Nganjiwa said the brutal invasion by the security agents, was oppressive being a gross violation of the rights to life, dignity of human person, fair hearing, right to private and family life of the plaintiff.
He said it was illegal, oppressive and unlawful, to take away and burn Ejiofor’s Toyota Car with registration number: YAB 60 CB. He said it was wrong for them to take away the dead body of his domestic staff, Samuel Okoro, and other vital documents and valuables seized from his house by government agents.
The court further made an order restraining the defendants or their agents from further harassing him, threatening, and/or taking further steps in an attempt to terminate his life and/or destroying the properties of the plaintiff.