Revolution Now: Court Slams N1 Million Damages On FG

The Federal High Court in Lagos has awarded N1m against the Federal Government over the police disruption of the botched August 5, 2019 #RevolutionNow protest.
In a ruling Monday, the court awarded the N1m in favour of a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje, who said he participated in the protest and was among those tear-gassed by security agents.
The court, in a judgment by Justice Maureen Onyetenu, declared the disruption of the peaceful August 5, 2019 protest by the police, as “illegal, oppressive, undemocratic and unconstitutional”.
Justice Onyetaru also condemned “the mass arrest, harassment, tear-gassing, and clamping into detention” of the protesters.
Ogungbeje had urged the court to award N500m as general and exemplary damages against the Nigerian Government, DSS and the Attorney-General of the Federation, but the court only awarded N1m.
Apart from the N1m award, the court also ordered the Nigerian Government to tender a public apology to the applicant in three national daily newspapers.
The nationwide protest was convened by rights activist, Omoyele Sowore, who was arrested by the Department of State Services on August 3, 2019 and only released on December 24, 2019.
FG had accused him of plotting to topple a democratically elected government.