…to also apologise in 3 newspapers for tear gassing him
…judge condemns mass arrest, harassment, tear-gassing, clamping into detention of protesters
For mobilizing the police to disrupt of the August 5, 2019 #RevolutionNow protest in Lagos, the Federal Government has been ordered to pay N1 million to a lawyer by a court.
A Federal High Court in Lagos awarded N1mllion against the government for disrupting the protest using state security apparatus.
Persecondnews recalls that the countrywide protest was convened by the publisher of SaharaReporters, Omoyele Sowore, who was arrested and incarcerated by the Department of State Services (DSS) on Aug. 3, 2019 for several months.
He was later released on bail following pressures and litigations by Lagos lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN).
Ogungbeje had asked the court to award N500million as general and exemplary damages against the Federal Government, DSS and the Attorney General of the Federation, but the court only awarded N1m.
The judge, Justice Maureen Onyetenu awarded the N1 million in favour of a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Olukoya Ogungbeje, who had slammed a suit against the Federal Government.
In addition, Onyetenu directed the government to tender a public apology to the applicant in three national dailies.
Earlier, Ogungbeje had told the judge that he participated in the #RevolutionNow protest and was tear-gassed by security agents alongside other protesters.
Justice Onyetenu upheld his argument that the disruption of the peaceful protest by the Federal Government through the police was “illegal, oppressive, undemocratic and unconstitutional.”
The judge agreed with the applicant, who sued on behalf of himself and other protesters, that the Federal Government deprived them of their right to peaceful assembly and association, in violation of sections 38, 39 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution.
She also condemned “the mass arrest, harassment, tear-gassing, and clamping into detention” of the protesters.
The judge also upheld the defence of the DSS that it was not involved in the disruption of the protest.
In the affidavit, which he filed in support of the suit, Ogungbeje said when he was co-opted into the #RevolutionNow protest, as a lawyer, he checked the constitution and found that it was lawful.
He told the court: “On getting to the take-off point of the protest in Lagos “I met agents and operatives of the respondents who had barricaded the venue of the peaceful protest for good governance in Nigeria.
“I was tear-gassed by agents of the respondents and the peaceful protest was forcefully disrupted by the respondents.
“I have been denied my fundamental constitutional rights of peaceful assembly and association by the respondents, without cause.”
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