The Federal High Court, Ado-Ekiti Division, on Wednesday fined the State Security Services, SSS, N5million for illegally arresting and detaining a member of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Afolabi Akanni, who represents Efon Constituency 1.

Mr. Akanni was whisked away on March 4 by SSS operatives who invaded the House of Assembly complex for alleged breach of security regulations. He was eventually released on March 22.

Mr. Akanni was not in court on Wednesday.

His counsel, Obafemi Adewale, told the judge, Taiwo Taiwo, his client could not be physically present because he was still receiving “post-traumatic” treatment in a hospital outside the state.

Delivering his  judgment, the judge, noted that the Respondent, SSS, had all along 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, Mr. 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 SSS in illegally arresting and continually 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”.

Credit: PremiumTimes