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#EndSARS: Court orders Lagos Govt to pay N5m compensation to assaulted Uber driver
Adedotun Clement, an Uber driver, had claimed that members of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency and the Nigeria Police Force attacked, assaulted, and humiliated him during the first anniversary of #EndSARS on October 20, 2021, at the Lekki Toll-Gate.
Consequently, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Lagos, on Tuesday, ordered the Lagos State Government and the Nigeria Police to pay N5 million as compensation.
While taking a passenger from Lagos Island to the state’s mainland, Clement was attacked on the first anniversary of the #EndSARS demonstration.
He was reported to have entered the commotion after security personnel at the Lekki Toll disrupted the peaceful protest.
It was reported that police officers and members of the Lagos State Neighborhood Safety Agency used tear gas canisters to scatter the peaceful demonstrators while also detaining a large number of them.
By the time he went back to get his car, security personnel had accosted him and were dragging and torturing him.
The incident was documented on film, which quickly became popular on social media, and it was covered by the media as well.
After the viral incident received widespread condemnation, a human rights attorney and activist from Lagos, Mr. Inibehe Effiong, took up the case and filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Uber driver against the Lagos State Government, the Lagos State Neighbor Safety Agency, the Lagos Attorney General, and the Nigeria Police.
The Uber driver’s right to human dignity was violated, according to Justice Allagoa, who handed down the ruling in the case on Tuesday.
The N5 million in damages was granted in his favor by the court.
