Court awards N85m against Nigerian Army for killing businessman

FOR killing a flour merchant nine years ago, Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has awarded N85 million as damages against the Nigerian Army for the assault and killing of late Mr Olajide Enilari.

Mr Enilari, a flour merchant, was assaulted by officers of the Nigerian Army on the 27th of January 2009 along Airways junction in Apapa, Lagos.

The late Olajide died on the 29th of January 2009 due to head injuries he sustained during the assault.

It was gathered that the late Mr Olajide was standing alongside his truck driver at the Airways junction in Apapa, when a vehicle suddenly hit him.

The deceased ran to stop the driver of the vehicle from fleeing, but the occupants of the vehicle who were military personnel alighted from the vehicle and started beating him with the iron butts of their belts and an iron rod found on the side of the road.

When the case commenced in the Federal High Court, the defendants raised the issue of self-defense, alleging that the deceased first hit the military personnel driving the vehicle and ran away.

The defense further argued that it was in the course of apprehending the deceased that an angry mob gathered with dangerous weapons attacking the officers, who then used the deceased as a human shield, to ward off the crowd at the scene of the crime.

After careful consideration of the evidence (oral and documentary) of the parties in the suit, however, the court found no merit in the defense.

The court was of the view that it was inconceivable that an armed mob would attack military officers for merely apprehending a civilian and likewise incomprehensible that none of the officers sustained any injury from the attack.

The court thereby ruled, among other points, that the assault, which resulted in the death of the deceased was unlawful, wrong and a gross violation of the deceased’s right to life.

According to the legal team led by the Executive Director of Access to Justice, Joseph Otteh the court’s judgment is commendable.   “We are hopeful that it will help scale-back a deeply entrenched climate of impunity within security agencies in the country; this climate of impunity feeds the recklessness and unlawfulness of the actions of security forces and law enforcement agencies in varied contexts.”

The suit was filed by Access to Justice on the 28th of April 2009, on behalf of the family of late Mr Olajide Enilari. The action was instituted against the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Attorney General of the Federation.