JUSTICE Nnamdi Dimgba of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has awarded the sum of N10.5 million against the Department of State Services (DSS) over the illegal arrest and detention of Jones Abiri.

Abiri, a journalist based in Yenagoa, the capital of Bayelsa State, was arrested in July 2016 for alleged terrorism. He was detained at the DSS headquarters until July 2018, when the Service took him to court on charges of criminal intimidation.

He was briefly remanded at the Kuje prison in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and was later released on bail.

However, while his case with the DSS is still ongoing at a magistrate court in the Wuse District of Abuja, Abiri filed a human rights enforcement suit at the Federal High Court, demanding that the DSS should pay him N200 million for violating his rights. The suit was filed on Abiri’s behalf by popular human rights lawyer, Femi Falana.

Delivering the judgement on Thursday, Justice Dimgba held that the DSS acted outside the provisions of the law regarding the terrorism prevention Act.

Details later…