Court orders Malami, DSS to pay Igboho N20bn for ‘unlawful invasion, aggravated damages’
An Oyo State High Court has ordered the sum of N20 billion to be paid to Yoruba Nation activist, and succession advocate, Sunday Adeyemo (Igboho) as aggravated damages by the Attorney General of the Federal (AGF) and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami SAN, and the Department of State Services (DSS) in its ruling, Friday.
The suit was filed by Adeyemo, who through his counsel, Chief Yomi Alliyu (SAN), sought orders declaring the invasion as a violation of his fundamental human right, damage of his property as a violation of his fundamental right to peacefully own property and wealth as well.
It would be recalled that on July 1, this year, gunmen dressed in military camouflage, but later identified as operatives of the DSS, attacked the Soka, in Ibadan home of Yoruba Nation secessionist leader, Sunday Adeyemo (Sunday Igboho), wreaking extensive damage to his property and abducting his wife in the process.
The attackers stormed the Ibadan, Oyo State home of Igboho barely two days to his planned Yoruba Nation mega rally scheduled for Saturday, July 3 in the Ojota area of Lagos.
Igboho’s spokesman, Olayemi Koiki, who disclosed the latest incident in a Facebook Livechat, said the attackers stormed the residence of his principal at about 1am, early Thursday morning.
“I can confirm that those who came are definitely Nigerian soldiers. There are more than 100 soldiers that came.
“The situation is very active as more security operatives in about seven Nigerian Army patrol vans have arrived.
“He (Sunday Igboho) is currently safe,” Koiki said.
All over the premises, cars and walls were riddled with bullets as some of the occupants of the house were said to have been whisked away by the invaders.
Igboho has at various times pledged solidarity with another secessionist leader, Nnamdi Kanu of the Indigenous people Of Biafra (IPOB) in their agenda of freeing their ethnic nationalities from the country.
Igboho had also issued a seven-day ultimatum to killer herders in the Ibarapa area of Oyo State.
Meanwhile, wife of Yoruba rights activist, Igboho, was abducted by the gunmen who attacked his house in the early hours of Thursday.
In his ruling, Friday, Justice Ladiran Akintola while delivering judgement in a N500 billion suit filed against Malami and DSS over the invasion of his Ibadan residence, on July 1, also awarded N2 million as cost to the applicant.
Justice Akintola awarded the sum as exemplary and aggravated damages against the DSS in the suit filed by Igboho in which he is seeking N500 billion damages for the invasion.
The court fruther declared the invasion illegal and tongue-lashed the DSS for acting based on what he described as “arbitrary aggression and prejudices” from his agitation for the Yoruba nation.