30th August, 2022
The Appeal Court on Tuesday set aside the N20 billion damages awarded to Yoruba Nation agitator, Sunday Adeyemo, popularly known as Sunday Igboho against the Department of State Services (DSS).
The Oyo State High Court had last year awarded N20 billion damages against the DSS for invading the apartment of Sunday Igboho in Ibadan which led to the death of some of his aides.
The Attorney General of the Federation, the DSS and the Director, Oyo State SSS had appealed the judgement. The court delivered its judgment on Tuesday in favour of the DSS, nullifying the lower court’s judgement.
Justice Muslim Hassan, who delivered judgement on Tuesday stated emphatically that Justice Ladiran Akintola, who delivered the judgement on September 17, 2021, acted on the wrong principles of law in awarding the cost to Igboho.
According to him, Justice Akintola could not assess damages claimed by Igboho using his own conceived parameters and thus nullified the earlier judgement.
Hassan said the lower court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter and thereby, set aside the judgement, while describing the N20 billion cost awarded against the DSS as outrageous.