Justice Doris Okuwobi of an Ikeja High court has awarded a N10 million damages against Lagos State Traffic Management Agency, LASTMA, and its official, Mr Aidelebe Sunday for causing bodily injury to a student, Samson Dibie in 2011.
Dibie, who was attacked at Abule Egba with a stick by the LASTMA official on December 1, 2011, while attempting to escape arrest with his motorcycle dragged the official, LASTMA and the state Ministry of Transport to court through his lawyer, Mrs. Funmi Falana, asking for a N200 million general damages for his injury and the infringement of his fundamental human rights.
He also prayed the court to declare that the action of the LASTMA official was unconstitutional and illegal as it violated his rights to dignity of human person.
Two years after the case was argued and the respondents defended the case through their lawyers from the Ministry of Justice, Justice Okuwobi in her judgment held that the action of the official was unconstitutional and subsequently illegal.
She held that it violated the applicant’s rights to dignity of human person as guaranteed by Section 34 of the 1999 constitution.
The court also declared that the assault and physical attack on the applicant by Aidelebe Sunday on that day which eventually led to the amputation of his right hand was illegal, unconstitutional and a threat to his right to life as guaranteed in section 33 of the 1999 constitution.
She also held the act violated Article 4 of the Human and Peoples’ Rights Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and thus awarded N10 million in favour of Dibie as damages for the infringement of his fundamental rights to life and dignity of person.
In its defence, the state government denied the incident, insisting that on the said date, none of his official participated in arrest of Okada rider as alleged by the applicant.
In a counter affidavit deposed to by Aidelebe Sunday, himself said “there was no fracas between the 2nd Respondent officers including me and the motor bike riders on that particular day.”
It denied there was no filling station known as Total Filling station at Oja Oba as claimed by the applicant and that the agency never operated with buses, except its Toyota Hilux pick-up van.
