Africa Press-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
A Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State, on Thursday, slammed a N10 million fine against the State Security Service (SSS) over a sim card controversy lawsuit involving President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
Hanan Buhari, the SSS and telecoms firm, MTN, were sued for human rights abuse by Anthony Okolie, a man detained for 10 weeks over the use of a sim card previously used by the president\u2019s daughter.<\/p>\n
Mr Okolie, through his lawyer, Tope Akinyode, had demanded N500 million \u201cas general and aggravated damages for the gross and unlawful violation of the applicant\u2019s right to acquire moveable properties, freedom of movement and self dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Legal tussle
\nPREMIUM TIMES reported how Hanan\u2019s lawyer, M.E. Sheriff, in a counter affidavit argued that although the MTN sim card which caused the dispute was once used by her \u201cbut she did not order the SSS to arrest Mr Okolie.\u201d<\/p>\n
The SSS, in a 35-paragraph affidavit, signed by its official, S.M. Kayode, however, said it received an official letter of instruction from the presidency dated July 5, 2019, upon which it acted.<\/p>\n
The matter was earlier scheduled for judgement before Justice Nnamdi Dimgba on March 3 but could not hold due to the coronavirus lockdown.<\/p>\n
Ruling
\nOn Thursday when the matter came up, Justice Dimgba awarded the sum of N10 million against SSS for the abuse of Mr Okolie\u2019s fundamental human rights.<\/p>\n
He, however, said that there is no substantial evidence again Hanan and MTN.<\/p>\n
Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES after the matter, Mr Okolie through his lawyer, Mr Akinyode said: \u201cAs far as we are concerned, it is a good judgement for democracy. It is a symbolism of judgement for the masses. The monetary sum does not matter to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not particular about the money, we are happy to establish that the SSS is a lawless security outfit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Africa Press-Nigeria: A Federal High Court in Asaba, Delta State, on Thursday, slammed a N10 million fine against the State Security Service (SSS) over a sim card controversy lawsuit involving President Muhammadu Buhari\u2019s daughter. Hanan Buhari, the SSS and telecoms firm, MTN, were sued for human rights abuse by Anthony Okolie, a man detained for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":20271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,30],"tags":[592,1281],"class_list":["post-25105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-mtn","tag-nigeria-police-force"],"yoast_head":"\n