A High Court in Benin, has said the Commissioner of Police, Edo State Command to pay Mr. Omoruyi Ogundezi and 6 others, N140m as damages for the unlawful seizure of their cars.
The order is part two to a suit delivered on trial by Ogundezi and others versus the CP and the Divisional Police Officer at the Igarra Police Station, in Akoko Edo Local Government Area.
Our correspondent learnt that the automobiles were seized at the State House of Assembly re-run in Akoko Edo in 2009.
Justice J. O. Okeaya-Inneh, in his judgment, said the seizure of the cars adds-up to an infringement on the plantiffs fundamental human civil liberties as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
Judgment on the application, Okeaya-Inneh said the task of the judiciary in upholding democracy was not suspicious as the constitution vested in it, the powers to check the executive and legislative arms.
He said, “Whereas there was affidavit-evidence by the applicants, there was no counter-affidavit by the respondents, even when they were served with all the processes in the suit.”
According to him, the respondents either had no defence or were simply not interested in its outcome, “an indication that the applicants facts deposed in the affidavit are true, being unchallenged, uncontroverted and undisputed.”
The court further ruled that the CP and the DPO should release the applicants’ vehicles to them immediately.