The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos Tuesday ordered the Lagos State Government and the Police to pay N5million to Adedotun Clement, the Uber driver allegedly assaulted on October 20, 2021, during the #EndSARS protest anniversary at the Lekki Toll-Gate.
The court heard that Clement was allegedly beaten, pepper-sprayed and dragged on the ground by the police and officials of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency, who mistook him for a protester.
He was said to be carrying a passenger from the Island to the Mainland part of the state when he encountered the protest at the Lekki Toll Gate which was disrupted by the Police and Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency officials.
Following the pandemonium that ensued after tear-gas canisters were fired to disperse the crowd, many protesters were arrested and Clement temporarily abandoned his car like other motorists and fled.
When he returned, he was accosted, manhandled and tortured by the officers who refused to listen to his entreaties that he was a driver and only wanted to retrieve his car.
The assault was captured on video which went viral on social media and was also reported in the media.
Following public condemnation that trailed the incident, Lagos-based human rights lawyer and activist, Inibehe Effiong, took up the case and sued the state, its Agency, its Attorney-General and the Police.
While delivering judgment in the fundamental rights case with Suit Number: FHC/CS/1862/2021, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa held that the treatment meted on the applicant amounted to a violation of his right to dignity.
The judge awarded Clement N5m as damages.
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