Court awards N100m damages against Police over Osun LG poll clampdown

 A Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo has awarded N100 million in damages against the Inspector-General of Police, the Nigeria Police Force and the Police Service Commission over actions taken to halt the February 22, 2025 local government election in Osun State.

In the judgment delivered on Monday in suit number FHC/OS/CS/41/2025, Justice A.A. Demi-Ajayi held that the “sealing of the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission, OSSIEC, offices and the arrest of its staff were unlawful”.

The judge further ruled that “the Nigerian Police failed to present any law that had been breached to justify the actions taken against the electoral body prior to the poll”.

Justice Demi-Ajayi also noted that the “evidence before the court showed that the local government election was conducted in line with relevant provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 and other enabling laws”.

The suit was filed by OSSIEC and its Chairman, Barrister Hashim Abioye, seeking “declarations that the Nigerian Police acted unlawfully by sealing the commission’s offices hours before the election and by arresting its ad-hoc officers”.

The claimants also urged the court to “determine whether their fundamental rights to liberty, private life, dignity and property, as guaranteed under Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, had been violated”.

They argued that the Nigerian Police conduct amounted to partisanship and asked the court to declare the arrests of OSSIEC staff in the build-up to the election as illegal and unlawful.

The claimants added that the election itself had been ordered by a court and described the Police operation as an affront to the judiciary, for which they sought aggravated damages of N2 billion.

They also prayed the court to “restrain the IGP or his agents from interfering with the commission’s lawful responsibilities in the future.”

In response, the Nigerian Police admitted sealing the OSSIEC offices and arresting staff but maintained the action was a preventive measure to stop the commission of crime.

In an affidavit deposed to by Inspector Ogunmokun Abiodun, the Police stated that the action “was founded on the credible suspicion their engagement in actions deemed to have violated the Electoral laws and other applicable laws.”

The deponent insisted that the claimants had exaggerated the events and that the Police merely performed its duty of maintaining peace and order.

He denied allegations of partisanship, stating that the Police acted strictly within constitutional and statutory limits.

Reacting to the judgment, OSSIEC Chairman Hashim Abioye praised the judiciary for serving justice and commended the legal team led by Maruf Adediran.

He added that history had recorded what he described as the illegal attempt by the Nigerian Police to interfere with grassroots democracy in Osun State and that future generations would recognise the significance of the ruling.