A Sokoto businessman who was accidentally shot by Department of State Services (DSS) agents in 2016 has been compensated by the same agency justice six years after the agency refused to comply with a court judgement delivered in the victim’s favour.
Last Friday, rebuffing pressures to appeal the court judgement delivered six years ago, the DSS paid the ₦10 million damages awarded the businessman by the court. In addition, the DSS Director-General, Mr. Tosin Ajayi added another ₦10 million to help the victim mitigate the losses he incurred during the period.
This is the first time any security agency in Nigeria is compensating a victim of the negligence of its officers in this manner.
The businessman’s ordeal began in the early hours of April 2, 2016, when some DSS operatives, in search of a gunrunner who was the businessman’s namesake, invaded his residence in Jos, Plateau State. Mistaken the man for the gunrunner, the DSS operatives, in an attempt to demobilize him, shot the businessman in the right thigh.
Thereafter, the DSS operatives took the businessman to the University of Jos Teaching Hospital (JUTH), but abandoned him to his fate. Incidentally, it was about the time doctors at the hospital went on strike. Hours later, the DSS officers arrested the real gunrunner and whisked him to Abuja.
After the attack and several misfortunes arising from the injuries he sustained, the businessman, through his lawyer, Akibu Idris, sued the SSS and its former DG, Lawal Daura.
The DSS leadership at the time stalled the suit until in February 2018 when the Federal High Court in Bauchi ordered the DSS to pay the businessman N10 million for breach of his rights as guaranteed by sections 33 and 34 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution.
Few weeks after the judgement, the DSS filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal in Jos, challenging the judgement of the trial court, as the agency did not want to pay the ₦10 million.
However, the appeal by the DSS failed because, after filing the appeal, the agency failed to file and transmit records within the time stipulated by the rules of the court.
Speaking through his lawyer, the businessman said he was grateful to the DSS boss for coming to his rescue.
“Before Mr. Tosin Ajayi, who is Yoruba and a Christian, were two DGs from the North who were Muslims and Fulani. What did they do for me? They blocked every move I made to seek justice. They spent close to the ₦10 million the court awarded me on lawyers.
” Mr. Ajayi became DG a few months ago. He didn’t care if I was Hausa, Fulani or a Muslim. He endured that the right thing was done. That justice prevailed. He even added another ₦10 million to make it ₦20 million. I pray the Almighty Allah continue to bless him and bless Nigeria with Godly people ike him,” he declared.
