The Akwa Ibom Commissioner of Police has been ordered to pay a barber in Uyo Itam, Itu Local Government Area of the state, N2 million for unlawful arrest and detention on December 18, 2020.
In a judgment delivered Thursday, Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo presided by Justice Ntong Ntong held that “the Commissioner of Police, Akwa Ibom State, through his officers and men violated the personal liberty of the applicants by arresting and detaining Haggai Oscar Oku, the barber in the place of another person popularly called “Soft Touch.”
“Such mistake identity is so grieved to be ignored. It is the duty of the Commissioner of Police to superintend, supervise and cross check the activities of his officers and men in all circumstances,” the Court held.
Justice Ntong also held that “The time has come and I that the time is now when the Police in this country should respect the constitution and rights of the citizens as enshrined in Chapter 4 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
According to him, “there is no direct evidence of torture of the applicant by the respondent, I hold that the unlawful arrest and the continuous detention of the applicant without trial till the day this Honourable Court granted him bail, amount to torture as the applicant suffered aggravated psychological harassment.”
The Judge reasoned that “the conduct of the respondent is most uncivilized and unwholesome in a democratic setting like ours. The respondent’s conduct to the fundamental right of the applicant is reprehensible and opprobrious. The only situation that can assuage and ameliorate the suffering of the applicant is payment of damages.”
He held that “I have now considered the decline in the purchasing power of Naira currently in this country. This applicant is entitled to be compensated by the respondent in monetary term.”
