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”.
Mr. Adewale, after the court session, described the judgment as a courageous demonstration of the willingness and readiness of the judiciary to protect the sanctity of the constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights of the citizens of this country.

“This is not about Afolabi Akanni, it is not about the Ekiti State House of Assembly, and it is not about Governor Fayose. It is about the ordinary man on the streets who has this right but who is now facing an apparent trend all over the federation of a gradual return to the days of impunity when security agencies trudge relentlessly on the rights of the citizens of this country under various guises,” he said.

“The people working in security have their limits as specified by the laws that created them but most of them operate as if they are above the law.

“What the court has done today is to again re-emphasize that we have a constitution in Nigeria which is supreme to every other organs of government and which guides every of our conduct including the President of the country.

“It is not even about the N5 million awarded for damages and the court has stated that when you do what the DSS has done to Akanni, the fine must be paid. Within the parameters of the law, we will ensure that the money is paid by the Respondent.”

Also, the Speaker of the Ekiti State House of Assembly, Kola Oluwawole, said the judgment has vindicated the House’s position that the SSS’ invasion, arrest and detention of its members were illegal and against the democratic principles of the country.

” The judgment is a vindication of our position that the DSS’ invasion of the state House on March 4 was an aberration,” Mr. Oluwawole said.

“We cried to the world over this. The opponents were giving excuses and the DSS were not even helping the matter, but the judgment has shown that the DSS’ action was illegal.”
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/202122-court-fines-sss-n5million-illegal-arrest-detention-ekiti-lawmaker.html

hmmmmmmmm

Great move by the court

dats good

nice one. you will have to visit the dss abuja for your money, forget any garnishee order on dss account

once upon a time, I was d fifth 2 comment at d tym wen Buhari body language has stopped working.
pls seun n it's 'poo' sud take diz to d front page

Very good and welcomed decision hopefully it will teach duara secret service not to arbitrary detain someone

When a broom that is supposed to sweep clean is constantly caught in such unwholesome practices and has to keep paying fines for avoidable impunity and stupidity then what is the justification for any arrest or investigation it engages in?

They are already tainted and it is safe to presume they have lost every sense of justice or professionalism. They are now reduced to ready guns for hire feeding fat on FG largesse....how shameful!

By the time EFCC and DSS finish paying fines for illegal detention bubu will need to run to China to collect another loan.

Fedayeen01:
By the time EFCC and DSS finish paying fines for illegal detention bubu will need to run to China to collect another loan.

Agreed...... 5Million is in fact too Small, 50Million would have sounded more like it.

OlujobaSamuel:
nice one. you will have to visit the dss abuja for your money, forget any garnishee order on dss account

please read the following to inundate yo ignorance:
Garnishment
Garnishment can be a very effective mechanism for the enforcement of a judgment debt. It permits a judgment creditor to garnish debts payable to the debtor by other persons. Where a debt is payable to the debtor and to one or more co-owners, one-half of the indebtedness or an amount specified by order may be garnished.
All the judgment creditor has to do is file a garnishee application, attach all the banks DSS is banking with to show cause why they shouldn't satisfy the judgment sum from the account of the DSS.
Once the order is made, all the judgment creditor needs is to get his money from the garnished banks directly. i.e from DSS account, kapish

odikimi:

please read the following to inundate yo ignorance:
Garnishment
Garnishment can be a very effective mechanism for the enforcement of a judgment debt. It permits a judgment creditor to garnish debts payable to the debtor by other persons. Where a debt is payable to the debtor and to one or more co-owners, one-half of the indebtedness or an amount specified by order may be garnished.
All the judgment creditor has to do is file a garnishee application, attach all the banks DSS is banking with to show cause why they shouldn't satisfy the judgment sum from the account of the DSS.
Once the order is made, all the judgment creditor needs is to get his money from the garnished banks directly. i.e from DSS account, kapish

oga the order no dey the write-up, so for me to mention it, I sabi the meaning and how it works. eseun, ewamalo.

He is going to get a big fat zero