Court orders Ondo Govt to pay ₦30 million to amputee shot by Amotekun

The judge held that the shooting which led to the amputation of the applicant’s leg was a flagrant violation of the dignity of the victim and dehumanisation.

The Appeal Court in Akure on Tuesday upheld the judgment of the Ondo State High Court which ordered the Ondo state government to pay ₦30 million in damages to a commercial motorcyclist, Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the lower court on March 29, 2023, ordered the state government and the State Security Outfit codenamed, Amotekun, to pay ₦30 million to Oluwarotimi, for shooting him in the leg.

The counsel to Oluwarotimi, Adedotun Adegoroye, who appeared with Ayo Akinnawonu, representing the Tope Temokun Chambers, had earlier challenged the competency of the appeal by filing a notice of preliminary objection against the appeal.

The three-member panel of judges headed by Justice Oyebisi Omoleye agreed that the notice of appeal filed by the state government was incompetent. The judges, therefore, struck out the appeal and awarded the sum of ₦250,000 against the Ondo State Government as a cost.

NAN recalls that Justice Omolara Adejumo of the Ondo State High Court in his judgment, held that the illegal firing constituted a violation of the right to dignity of the applicant.

The court had condemned in the strongest terms the illegal shooting of the victim in the leg that led to the amputation and now left him with crutches. Adejumo added that the shooting which led to the amputation of the applicant’s leg was a flagrant violation of the dignity of the victim, sheer victimisation and dehumanisation.

She added that the said amount should be paid by the two respondents for exemplary and general damages to the applicant to cater for his physical and emotional injuries. According to her, the officers of the Corp acted in flagrant abuse of power.

“The illegal shooting at Araromi Street on August 9, 2021, in Akure by the Amotekun was a violation of the applicant’s human rights.”

The respondent’s counsel at the Appeal Court told the court that the Tope Temokun Chambers had written to the Office of the State Governor notifying the office of the lower court judgment and appealed for compliance with the said judgment.

He added that another letter was written to the Office of the Attorney-General of Ondo State, appealing to the Attorney-General of the State to advise the state government, to comply with the Court’s judgment.

“The letters stipulated that it was against public policy to use state resources to prosecute an appeal against a vulnerable citizen who is now an amputee after the government agency shot him in the leg.”

The counsel said that the state government did not reply to the two letters.