Five years after, the Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld a judgement awarding N50 million damages against the police for violating the rights of Charles Oputa, popularly known as Charly Boy, in 2017.
It will be recalled that the Federal High Court in Abuja had awarded the N50 million compensation in favour of the 72-year-old entertainer in a judgement it delivered in October 2018.
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja led by Ifeoma Jumbo-Ofo unanimously affirmed the lower court’s decision by dismissing the appeal filed against it by the police on Tuesday.
The court agreed with Charly Boy’s counsel, Inibehe Effiong, that the musician proved his case with credible, convincing and unchallenged evidence.
Ms Jumbo-Ofo, in the panel’s lead judgement, decried the police officers’ use of teargas and hot water cannon to disperse peaceful protesters during a demonstration led by Charly Boy in 2017.
The protest was against President Muhammadu Buhari’s protracted medical vacation in London, the United Kingdom (UK) in 2017.
She described the attack by the police on the protesters as an of impunity as well as “a naked and blatant violation of the rights of the Respondent (Charles Oputa)” to dignity, freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
The appellate court, therefore,e reaffirmed the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja and ordered that the police must pay Charly Boy the N50 million awarded to him by the lower court.
It also directed the police to tender a written apology to him in two national newspapers and pay him N100,000 as the cost of prosecuting the legal action.
The appeal dismissed by the Court of Appeal was jointly filed by the Inspector General of Police, Commissioner of Police, FCT Command, and the Nigeria Police Force.
Reacting to the judgement on Tuesday, Charly Boy’s lawyer, Mr Effiong, said it “will enhance Nigeria’s democracy.”