A Lagos State High Court yesterday awarded N5.5 million in damages against General Oladipo Diya in a suit filed by one Oluwatosin Onamade alleging assault and battery by Mr. Diya, who was once the second-in-command during the military dictatorship of the late General Sani Abacha.
In a ruling that took more than two hours to deliver, Justice Opeyemi Oke ruled that Mr. Diya was guilty of assault and unlawful seizure of the claimant’s property. The assault took place in 2008 while the claimant, Mr. Onamade, who was at the time the funeral director at LOTAD Mortuary Services owned by Mr. Diya, was in a contract renegotiation process with the former military honcho. Mr. Onamade told the court that Mr. Diya and other defendants brutalized him. Apart from Mr. Diya, other defendants in the lawsuit included Dele Obakoya, Emmanuel Ilori and Dele Oyesanya, all accomplices in the assault.
In 2010, Mr. Onomade had also accused Mr. Diya of trading in human parts through his LOTAD Mortuary firm.
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