Court orders Police to pay N100 million damages to pension scam suspect

A Federal High Court has in  a judgement ordered the police to pay N100 million damages to  one the suspects of an allegedly involved in a N1bn pension scam in the Nigerian Railway Corporation.

The suspect, Mrs. Patricia Onyeabo, died in police custody on May 16, 2014.  The suit which was heard by Justice Mohammed Idris, was a fundamental rights enforcement action filed by thedaughter of the deceased, Amaka, awarded N100m damages against the Nigeria Police Force for

The judge held the police responsible for  denying the deceased access to hospital facility, as he said this was responsible for Onyeabo’s death.

“I hold that the Nigeria Police have failed in their responsibility.

“The applicant had a right to life and dignity of human person but was denied while in the custody of the police, thereby leading to her life being terminated. If she was allowed access to the hospital, she would not have died.

“The police denied her the opportunity to visit the hospital for the treatment of her ailment, therefore the applicant deserves general damages in the sum of N100m,” Justice Idris held.

Onyeabo,who was  a former legal adviser and secretary to the NRC,  died in the police custody in May 2014. This was about four weeks after the police detained her over an alleged N1bn pension fraud, in which she was implicated.

The deceased was said to have been investigated alongside her co-suspects, Celestine Chukwu, EunaIgbeand Olumide Lawal, who were entrusted with the management of the NRC workers’ contributory pension  scheme.

They were reportedly detained at first at the Nigerian Railway Police Command in Ebute-Meta, Lagos, before being transferred to the Federal Criminal Investigation Department in Abuja.Onyeabo  died about five days after being moved to Abuja.

Her daughter, through her lawyer, Chief Anthony Idigbe (SAN), filed the action against the police claiming N1bn for general and aggravated damages over the“unlawful detention, harassment and intimidation of the applicant’s deceased mother.”

It was claimed that the police had violated the fundamental rights of the deceased to life, dignity of human

person, personal liberty, freedom of movement and fair hearing as enshrined in sections 33, 34, 35, 36 and 46 of the 1999 Constitution.

The monetary damages claimed, Idigbe argued was meant to ameliorate the pain caused the daughter of the deceased, Amaka, over the “continuous deterioration of the applicant’s deceased mother’s health until her very painful and very premature death; complete degradation, loss of reputation and goodwill of the applicant’s deceased mother’s family name built by sheer hard work, the collective shame and ostracism

suffered by the entire Onyeabo family as a result of the lawless and abusive acts of the respondents.”