The Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, Osun State Capital, on Monday, awarded the sum of N5million damages against the Nigerian Police Force and the Inspector General of Police for assaulting a middle-aged woman, Tola Azeez, in the state.
It will be recalled that two police officers, Ikuesan Taiwo, an inspector and Abass Ibrahim, a corporal went berserk in April 2020 and brutalised their victim in Odo-ori area of Iwo in the state while going to buy drugs at a pharmaceutical shop for a relation.
The police officers were caught on cameral brutalising the woman on the pretext of enforcing COVID-19 lockdown order in the state.
Felt infuriated with the inhuman act and hard-line postures of the policemen on the innocent woman, a fundamental human right enforcement suit was filed against the law enforcement agent by a lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, on behalf of Ms Azeez.
At the Court, the police counsel, F.B Osei, argued that Messrs Taiwo and Ibrahim were agents of the Nigeria Police Force and that the Nigeria Police Force and the Inspector General of Police could not be held liable for the acts and omission of its officers.
The claim of the police counsel was however opposed by Mr Olajensgbesi who affirmed that the officers carried out the assault during an official assignment as agents of the police force.
In his judgement, Justice Ayo Emmanuel, resolved the matter in favour of the applicant saying that, the actions of the offending officers in the discharge of their official duties as agents of the police amounted to an infringement of the Fundamental Right to Dignity of Ms Azeez, a liability the Nigeria Police Force must shoulder.
The court then awarded the sum of N5 million as aggravated and general damages against the Nigerian police and the Inspector General of Police.
