The Ondo State High Court in Akure has ordered the State Government, the Ondo State Security Network Agency (code-named Amotekun Corps) and their Commandant to pay the sum of N20 million in compensation to one Akinseloyin Taiwo, a 30 year old father of 5 that was illegally and unconstitutionally detained by the security agency.
Akinseloyin Taiwo said, in Suit no; AK/78/2024 that Amotekun men shot him along NTA Area, Idepe, Okitipupa Local Government of Ondo State on 5th day of August 2023 and thereafter detained him in their custody without proper medical care and without charging him to court for any known offence from the said 5th day of August 2023 until the 16th day of August 2023, a period clearly outside the constitutional provision of Section 35 (5) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999.
Determined to get justice, Akinseloyin Taiwo, through his lawyer, Oluwanike Omotayo Esq., sued the Ondo State Government, the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Ondo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun) and the Commandant Ondo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun) at the High Court.
Delivering judgement on the suit on Tuesday, 11 March 2025, the judge, Hon. Justice A. O. Adebusoye, awarded N20 million against the Respondents therein as listed above, jointly and severally, for the illegal and unconstitutional detention of the Applicant between the 5th and 16th day of August 2023 and an additional cost of N250,000.
Oluwanike Omotayo Esq. filed the suit on behalf of her client on 26 February 2024, more than six months after the incident happened praying amongst others for a declaration that the act of detaining the Applicant without any proper medical care after shooting him on the leg at the custody of Ondo State Security Network Agency from the 5th day of August 2023 till the 16th day of August 2023 resulting in further dehumanization and traumatic action of the Applicant constitutes a flagrant violation and unbridled breach of the fundamental rights of the Applicants to liberty, movement and personal dignity; N250 Million as Exemplary damages for compensation and N50 Million General Damages.
Reacting to the judgment, Oluwanike Omotayo Esq. maintained that the Constitution is replete with provisions intended to protect citizen’s fundamental rights as the entire chapter four exists for this purpose. She said it is indeed disheartening that notwithstanding this clear constitutions provisions, security agencies routinely violates citizens’ rights with impunity as the troubling crisis of unlawful detention threatens the rights and freedoms of countless individuals such as the Applicant herein.
She appreciated the court for the swift intervention in the improper use of power by the Amotekun Corps and stated that while the law provides for lawful detention under special circumstances, it is unfortunate that unlawful detention continues to plague our society violating citizen’s constitutional rights.
