A Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay N20 million to a pipeline surveillance contractor in Bonny Local Government Area of Rivers State, Richard Abbey as damages for unlawfully arresting and detaining him for over two weeks.

Delivering judgment on the matter on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the presiding judge, Justice Elsie Thompson ruled that the DSS violated the fundamental human rights of Mr. Abbey by the arrest and detention.  

Abbey, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Ricardo Security Services Ltd, was arrested in Port Harcourt at about 2am on Saturday, July 16, 2022 when security operatives comprising the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Army (NA) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) allegedly broke into his home.

According to his lawyer, Ajayi Olusegun, his whereabout and wellbeing was unknown until weeks later when he was released on bail by the DSS.

In her judgment, Justice Thompson ordered the DSS to publish an apology to the complainant in a national daily within 30 days of the judgment.

In his reaction, Counsel to the plaintiff, Olusegun Ajayi stated that the judgment would curb the incessant violation of the rights of citizens.

“It is significant in the sense that it is a lesson to the law enforcement agencies that a citizen of this country is entitled to his fundamental human rights as guaranteed by the Constitution and by the African Charter on Human and People’s Right Ratification Act, are you getting it?”

“Such fundamental human rights are sacrosanct; of course, based on the limitations provided by the law, are you getting it? They are guaranteed by the Constitution, you cannot infringe on somebody’s right, just like that.”

“So, that is the example, that is the lesson that the court has doled out today and this judgement today shows that there’s still hope for the common man, there’s still hope for the downtrodden, there’s still hope for the citizens.”

On his part, the lawyer representing the Attorney General of Rivers State, Kingsley Briggs expressed satisfaction with the judgment, stressing that “for the general society, for humanity, I think the general lessons are there from the judgment. They need to do due diligence before carrying out any action”.

Incidentally, the judgement was delivered in favour of the plaintiff on the same day his daughter was called to bar after graduating from Law School, which he described in a brief chat with Kristina Reports as “double blessing for me. God gave me a double package”.