Aniefiok Christopher
Enugu State High Court in Nigeria has awarded £420 million in favour of 21 miners unlawfully killed in 1949 by colonial police and transmitted same to the authorities of the United Kingdom.
The judgment which came 77 years after the Nigerian coal miners were massacred during a demand for better working conditions, was served on the British government for execution, especially payment of £20 million compensation to each of the 21 deceaseds’ families.
A Professor of Law and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, Professor Yemi Akinseye-George, SAN, who led the legal battle that brought justice to the families of the slain miners, confirmed on Friday in Abuja that the judgment delivered by Justice Anthony Onovo is now in possession of the British government.
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Akinseye-George told newsmen at a press conference that the judgment was dispatched to the United Kingdom through the British High Commissioner in Nigeria for execution as ordered by the Nigerian Court..
In the judgment delivered on February 5, 2026, by Justice Onovo, the United Kingdom which ran the coal mining for commercial purposes as the then colonial master of Nigeria, was ordered to pay the families of the 21 victims £20 million each, amounting to a total of £420 million in all.
Going by the order of the Nigerian court, the UK is expected to pay the judgment debt to the victims within 60 days and report the compliance with the judgment execution to the court within 90 days.
Professor Akinseye-George, while confirming the development, expressed optimism that the British government will obey the order that came from a competent court of law.
He expressed delight that justice finally came the way of the 21 slain miners, 75 years, after their lives were unlawfully terminated while working for the then Nigeria’s colonial masters.
Narrating the event that led to the deprivation of lives of the coal miners, through gun shots, he recalled that on November 18, 1949, the aggrieved coal miners in Enugu engaged in a lawful and known violent protest against poor working conditions, and discriminatory labour practices.
Rather than addressing the grievances, the senior lawyer said that the colonial police officers, acting under the authority of the British colonial administration, opened fire on the unarmed miners and instantly killed 21 of them.
Akinseye-George praised Mazi Greg Nwanchukwu Onoh, a human right activist, who initiated the court action against the British government.
He noted that the verdict has now affirmed the dignity of life and put an end to the pains and agonies of the families of the 21 coal miners in the last 75 years.
The 21 coal miners said to have been unlawfully killed in 1949 included Sunday Anyasodo, Ono Oha, Andrew Obiekwe Okonkwo, Augustine Chiwefalu, Onoh Obiekwe, Livinus Ugwu, Ngwu Ofor, Ndunguba Eze, Okafor Agu, Livinus Ofor, Jonathan Ukachunwa, and Jonathan Agu Ozani.
The rest were Moses Ikebu, Okoloha, Chukwu Ugwu, Thomas Chukwu, Simon Nwanchukwu, Agu Alo, Ogbonnia Ani Chima, Nnaji Nwanchukwu, William Nwaku, James Ono Ekeowa, Felix Ekeowa, Felix Nnaji and Ani Nwaekwo.
In the event of the United Kingdom failing to pay the £420 million, the Nigerian court ordered a post judgment interest at 10 percent per annum, until full liquidation of the judgment debt.
Besides, the Nigerian court also ordered the UK authorities to write an apology letter to the families of the coal miners, and publish same in four Nigerian newspapers and three newspapers in the United Kingdom.
