The ECOWAS Court in Abuja has directed the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to pay N30 million in compensation to Gloria Okolie for the abuse and enslavement she endured following her 2021 arrest on allegations of spying for the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the Eastern Security Network (ESN).
Delivering the judgment on Thursday, Justice Ricardo Cláudio Monteiro Gonçalves ruled that Okolie was unlawfully detained by the police’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) for 248 days, far exceeding the 60-day legal limit for detention in capital offence cases.
During this time, Okolie, who was 21 at the time, was also forced to serve as a maid while in custody
Samuel Ihensekhien Jr., Okolie’s lawyer, told FIJ on Thursday that the Nigerian government acknowledged it had illegally detained Okolie for over 90 days, violating various laws, treaties, the Nigerian constitution, and legal frameworks.
Ihensekhien Jr. added that in addition to the N30 million awarded against the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), the court ordered the federal government to pay N1 million to 24-year-old Okolie. This was due to the government’s dismissive and negligent attitude in court, with the court noting that the federal government had delayed the case proceedings by failing to file necessary court documents.
“Besides this, there is also a local judgment from the local High Court that has also awarded her the sum of N60 million. Today, the federal government of Nigeria owes N90 million in terms of judgment (on Okolie’s case),” Ihensekhien Jr. said.
“This judgment where they awarded N60 million to her against the federal government was delivered on June 23, 2022, by the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court.”
In 2021, Okolie left her home on June 17 of that year and never returned. She was subsequently held at the IRT office in Owerri, where she was forced to wash clothes and cook.
Following a social media outcry, the police admitted to detaining her, claiming she had worked closely with “Benjamin Uzoma Emojiri, also known as ‘Onye Army,'” one of the ESN commanders previously wanted by the police for his involvement in planning and executing attacks on the Imo State Police Command Headquarters and the Nigerian Correctional Service Headquarters in Imo.
In the aftermath, Okolie filed a lawsuit against Usman Baba, the Inspector-General of Police, for the mistreatment she endured at the hands of the Nigeria Police Force.
Source: FIJ.
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