Rivers State High Court sitting in Port Harcourt has ordered the Nigeria Police to pay N50million compensation to the family of Daniel Chibuike-Ikeagwuchi, popularly called Sleek who was killed by policemen in the state.
The victim’s family had named the police; Inspector-General Ibrahim Adamu; the state Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mukan; and two others in a suit it filed to enforce the fundamental human rights of the deceased.
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A team of policemen shot and killed Sleek around Eleme, Eleme Local Government Area of the state, on September 19, 2020 resulting in protests.
The family had prayed the court to declare their son’s killing unlawful and to award N1bn as compensation.
The defendants neither appeared nor filed responses in two sittings.
They were said to have appeared in court on the last-adjourned date of November 23 when they presented a counter affidavit that was rejected by the court.
In his ruling on Friday, the trial judge, Justice, S.C. Amadi, granted the four prayers of the claimant and declared that the gruesome murder of Sleek contravened the constitution of Nigeria.
Amadi held that the failure of the police to arraign the officers who killed Sleek was illegal and awarded N50million against the defendants.
The lawyer to Sleek’s family, Noble Njoku, described the judgment as justice well-served.
He said it would act as deterrent to men of Nigerian security forces who use human being as “point and kill.”
