Justice Bola Bola Okikiolu-Ighile of a Lagos High Court, Ikeja on
Friday ordered the Nigerian Police to pay the sum of N4 million as
compensation to four fuel subsidy protesters.
The four protesters were shot by the former Divisional Police Officer
of Pen Cinema Police Station, Agege, Lagos, Mr. Segun Fabunmi, during
last year’s protest against fuel subsidy removal.
The applicants are Egbuzor Samuel (24), Alimi Abubakar (41), Joy Monday (21) and Chibuzo Udo (28).
They were reportedly injured while one other protester, Adedamola Daramola, died in the incident.
In a judgment delivered at the court, Okikiolu-Ighile held the police
and Fabunmi liable for the “reckless shooting and for inflicting bodily
injury” on the applicants.
She also ordered the police to apologise to the applicants in the Punch Newspaper and any other national daily.
Fabumi, allegedly shot at the protesters at about 9.30am on January
9, 2012 in Yaya-Abatan Junction, Agege, Lagos, during the protest.
The suit dated March 13, 2012, was instituted on behalf of the four applicants by the Lagos State Office of Public Defender.
The judge held in her ruling that the shooting violated the
applicants’ constitutional rights to freedom of movement and human
dignity.
She, however, exonerated the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, who was joined as a respondent.
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