The Benue State High Court sitting in Makurdi has awarded the sum of Five Hundred Million (N500m) in general and exemplary damages against the Nigeria Police over the violation of the fundamental rights of a lawyer, Agugu Iliamkondo Benson Bemsen.
Justice M. M. Ikwulono, in a judgment delivered on Friday, September 11, upheld the lawyer’s application and ordered the police to publish an apology to him in national newspapers.
Iliamkondo had reportedly gone to a police outpost at Koti-Mbaduku, Shangev-Yav, Kwande Local Government Area (LGA), in May 2026 to secure bail for a client when he allegedly challenged a demand for money as a condition for the bail.
According to the account shared by Bem-Ephraim Orlunan Ayati, Esq., a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Gboko legal team, the lawyer was allegedly assaulted, detained, forced to carry a bucket containing inmates’ faeces and urine, and marched around the community at gunpoint while being threatened with death.
Following the incident, the NBA, Gboko Branch, led by its Chairman, F.M.Z. Felix Uwar, Esq., constituted a legal team which instituted Suit No. MHC/4110M/2026 against the police officer and other authorities.
The NBA team described the judgment as a victory for justice and a deterrent against police brutality, while commending the Gboko Branch leadership for securing redress for its member.
