The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division Monday dismissed the appeal brought before it by Mr Felix Okonkwo, over alleged unlawful arrest and detention by the Police and the Department of Security Services (DSS).
The legal practitioner is one of the lawyers to the detained leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu.
Dismissing the appeal in Abuja on Monday, Justice Okon Abang held that the appeal lacks merit.
“In the final analysis, the appeals lack merit and it is accordingly dismissed, the decision of the trial court is hereby affirmed. There is no order as to cost”, Justice Abang held.
The appellant according to him failed to establish miscarriage of justice in the judgment of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja in the matter.
Justice Abang held further that from the video footage tendered as exhibit by the appellants at the trial court, there was nowhere the operatives of the DSS were found at the scene of their arrest in the house of Ifeanyi Ejiofor in Anambra state.
The court also disagreed with the appellants in their claims that the N2 million compensatory damages were grossly insufficient, saying the decision to award compensatory damages is at the discretion of a Judge and cannot be dictated by any plaintiff or appellant.
Felix Okonkwo, Ikenna Chibuike and Okafor Ugochukwu, who were appellants in the appeal, then plaintiffs had dragged the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the DSS before the high court for the enforcement of their fundamental human rights.
