Court Directs DSS To Pay N5M to Nnamdi Kanu’s Lawyer For Human Rights Violation 

Opara announced the decision in a Facebook post.

By Omotayo Olutekunbi

On Monday, April 4, 2022, a Federal High Court in Abuja ordered the federal government to pay N5 million to Maxwell Opara, one of the attorneys for banned Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader Nnamdi Kanu, for violating his rights.

Remember that in September 2021, Opara sued the Department of State Services (DSS) for damages.

When Opara paid a normal visit to Kanu on August 30, 2021, the DSS escorted him to a specific chamber within its facility for an alleged body search, he told the court, “wherein they forced him to remove his medicated eye-glasses, wedding ring, belt, jacket and shoes and accordingly left him shabbily dressed”.

He told the court that he was humiliated by having to hold his trousers with his hands, wearing bathroom slippers designed for awaiting trial detainees, and being exposed to the cold for three hours by an air conditioner.

He requested that the court order the DSS and its Director-General to issue a formal apology that would be published in two major daily newspapers.

Opara requested that the court give him N50 million in damages for the violation of his fundamental rights to dignity and human being.

Justice Zainab Abubakar granted all of the reliefs requested by the Applicant in the complaint in her ruling on Monday, however she decreased the damages from N50 million to N5 million.

In a Facebook post, Opara confirmed the decision.

The ruling came after the lawyer filed a basic right enforcement suit to protest claimed humiliating treatment he received when visiting IPOB leader Nnamdi Kanu at the DSS prison facility in Abuja.