Court orders police to apologise, pay Anambra lawyer N25millon for torture

A High Court sitting in Onitsha, Anambra State has asked the police to pay a lawyer in the state, Mr Ogbonnaya Obasi, the sum of N25m as damages for torture.

The court presided over by Justice Theophifine Oguji also ordered the police to tender an apology to the lawyer in a national daily.

The judgement which was delivered on Monday saw no fewer than 30 lawyers appearing for the applicant, OJ Obasi.

Obasi had instituted the matter against the police following his brutalization by some police personnel attached to the Onitsha Area Command in October, 2019.

Obasi had on the fateful day interceded in the torture of a citizen, begging the police to stop beating the man, but the officers turned round and descended on the lawyer.

Delivering judgement on Monday, the court ordered the respondents to tender personal written apology to the lawyer as well as a public apology to be published in a daily newspaper.

The court also ordered the police to pay the lawyer “N25m damages, jointly and severally, for assaulting the applicant, and breach of the applicant’s fundamental rights”.

The Respondents, Emeka Ebo, Yakubu Aboh, John Agbaka, the Inspector General of Police and Commissioner of Police were absent in court