Police to pay N100m damages for suspect’s death

Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase

A Federal High Court in Lagos on Monday entered judgment in favour of one of the suspects of an alleged N1bn pension scam in the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mrs. Patricia Onyeabo, who died in police custody on May 16, 2014.

Justice Mohammed Idris, who gave judgment on a fundamental rights enforcement case filed by the daughter of the deceased, Amaka, awarded N100m damages against the Nigeria Police Force for Onyeabo’s death.

The judge found the police culpable for denying the deceased access to hospital, saying the woman would not have died if the police had allowed her to visit a hospital.

“I hold that the Nigeria Police have failed in their responsibility.

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“The applicant had a right to life and dignity of human person but was denied while in the custody of the police, thereby leading to her life being terminated. If she was allowed access to the hospital, she would not have died.

“The police denied her the opportunity to visit the hospital for the treatment of her ailment, therefore the applicant deserves general damages in the sum of N100m,” Idris held.

Onyeabo, a former legal adviser and secretary to the NRC, had died in the police custody in May 2014, about four weeks after the police detained her over an alleged N1bn pension fraud, in which the deceased was implicated.

The deceased was reportedly being investigated alongside her co-suspects, Celestine Chukwu, Eunagbe and Olumide Lawal, who were entrusted with the management of the NRC workers’ contributory pension scheme.

They were said to have been initially detained at the Nigerian Railway Police Command in Ebute-Meta, Lagos, before being transferred to the Federal Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja.

Onyeabo was said to have died about five days after being moved to Abuja.

Her daughter, through her counsel, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), had instituted a fundamental rights enforcement action against the police claiming N1bn for general and aggravated damages over the “unlawful detention, harassment and intimidation of the applicant’s deceased mother.”

Idigbe claimed that the police had violated the fundamental rights of the deceased to life, dignity of human person, personal liberty, freedom of movement and fair hearing as enshrined in sections 33, 34, 35, 36 and 46 of the 1999 Constitution.

The monetary damages claim, Idigbe said was meant to assuage the pain caused the daughter of the deceased, Amaka, over the “continous deterioration of the applicant’s deceased mother’s health until her very painful and very premature death; complete degradation, loss of reputation and goodwill of the applicant’s deceased mother’s family name built by sheer hard work, the collective shame and ostracism suffered by the entire Onyeabo family as a result of the lawless and abusive acts of the respondents.”