#EndSARS: Man receives N7.5m for six years detainment without offence
By Modupe Shodeinde
A 40-year-old man, Chidiebere Nwadi was awarded N7.5m by the Lagos Judicial Panel on Friday for illegal arrest and incarceration for six years at the Kirikiri prison without trial.
The petitioner who first appeared before the panel on November 28, 2020, recounted how he was detained and tortured by police officers hours after he arrived the state from the South-east in 1999.
He was 18 years at the time of arrest and was in prison up till 2004, six years after.
He left Abia state in May 1999 to see his brother in Lagos, but on arrival, he said he had no means to contact his brother and was stranded before his encounter with the police.
“I arrived in Lagos at 8 p.m. and was heading to Desert Street, Egbeda. It was late, at about 9:30 p.m. When I got there, I was told my brother no longer lived there. The new occupants (a barbershop) didn’t know my brother’s new address.
“I begged them to allow me to sleep in the shop and I slept there till in the morning. I carried my Marlboro bag with me, trying to get to Ojuelegba from Oshodi to meet an uncle who could help, then a van drove by.
“People ran, but I was confused and before I could react, I was grabbed, beaten, and my head was hit with the butt of a gun. When I asked what I did, I was beaten and later taken to Idimu police station along with others,” he said.
He said he was kept in cell for three months because of his inability to pay a sum of N10,000 demanded by the police.
He said he was taken to a nearby court where he was charged with armed robbery and sent to Kirikiri Medium Prison.
“After three years, I developed partial blindness and deafness from the slaps I received. I did not know that telling the police you have no money makes them more angry.”
Nwadi said he regained his freedom in 2004 when a youth corps member, Eric Ugwuoke, serving in the Nigerian Prison Service, listened to his story and eventually facilitated his release.
In her ruling on Saturday, Justice Okuwobi, a retired judge heading the panel said “The petitioner was incarcerated in the prime of his life without justification for six years and was never tried or sentenced for any crime despite enduring a long six-year stay in prison and losing a vital part of his youth and opportunities.
“We hereby give an award of N7.5m in favour of the petitioner.”
The panel chairman also recommended that the Investigating Police Officer in charge of the case should be suspended for six months without pay.
