The Court of Appeal in Lagos has set aside the judgment awarding N25m compensation to Yoruba actor, Babatunde Omidina (aka Baba Suwe) for alleged wrongful detention by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency in October 2011.
Justice Yetunde Idowu of the Lagos High Court, Ikeja, had on November 24, 2011 ordered the NDLEA to pay N25m to Omidina and publicly apologise to him in conspicuous pages of two national dailies for violating his rights to personal liberty.
However, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Rita Pemu on Friday, the appellate court upheld NDLEA’s appeal against the judgment. The three-man appeal panel held that the Lagos High Court, Ikeja lacked the jurisdiction to entertain the matter in the first place. The panel added that even if its decision on the jurisdictional issue was wrong, the arrest and detention, which the respondent (Omidina) had complained of was “not unreasonable.”
