Court Orders Police To Pay N15m For Killing Shiite Members

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Monday, slammed the sum of N15 million against the Nigerian police over the alleged killings of three members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN).

The IMN members were killed during the protests which turned violent in July 2019 in Abuja, the nation’s capital.

in his judgment, Justice Taiwo Taiwo, also ordered the National Hospital, Abuja, to immediately release the three corpses in its morgue.

Justice Taiwo while granting Reliefs A and C of the applicants, said each of the applicants must be paid a sum of N5 million as compensation for the killings.

The judge held that the action of the police was both illegal and unlawful as it contravened the provisions of Section 31(1) of the Constitution which bordered on the fundamental rights of the victims.

Lawyers to the police were unavailable throughout the hearing of the suit to counter the submissions of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria with regards to the accounts of what transpired during the protest held on July 22, 2019.

On account of this, Justice Taiwo held that the submission in law that was not countered by another party would, therefore, be admitted as correct.

However, the police lawyer who showed up for the judgment, Simon Lough, claimed that the court had been misled.

On the other hand, the counsel to the applicants, Bala Dakum, commended the judgement, saying justice had been served.