A Federal High Court, Abuja, on Wednesday, made the Convener, #RevolutionNow, Omoyele Sowore, N2 million richer over the unlawful seizure of his mobile phone in 2019. It ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay the amount for seizing the gadget.
Justice Anwuli Chikere equally ordered the DSS to release the iPhones and the sum of N10,000 which were alleged to have been forcefully taken away from him without court warrant.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Sowore, through his lawyer, Funmi Falana, in a fundamental rights enforcement suit, had alleged that the operatives of the DSS, on Aug. 3, 2019 at a hotel in Lagos, forcefully took away his iPhones and the sum of N10, 000 when he was arrested on allegations bordering on treasonable felony and terrorism.
The judge ordered the DSS, the 1st respondent in the case, to also tender an apology in two national dailies within two months.
Chikere described the forceful seizure of the personal property of the publisher of SaharaReporters as “illegal, unconstitutional, null and void and gross violation of his fundamental rights as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution.
She said the DSS ought to have obtained court order before the confiscation of his belongings and that the seizure can no be regarded as ‘”temporary” since 2019.
The judge also held that the claim by the DSS that his phones were still under investigation since 2019 over his alleged link with terrorists was untenable, illegal and unconstitutional.
Sowore’s lawyer, Falana, while reacting to the judgement, expressed happiness and described it as victory for justice.