Court Awards Lawyer ₦5m Over Unlawful Arrest and Detention

The Federal High Court sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State, has awarded ₦5 million in compensatory damages to legal practitioner Omotosho Kazeem Kareem over his unlawful arrest and detention by the police.

Justice Abimbola O. Awogboro delivered judgment in Suit No. FHC/IL/CS/134/2025, holding that Kareem’s arrest and detention were illegal, unconstitutional and constituted violations of his fundamental rights to personal liberty and dignity.

The action was instituted against the Commissioner of Police, Oyo State, and five other respondents following circumstances surrounding the lawyer’s arrest and detention.

According to the account of the judgment, the court found that the police respondents acted unlawfully following the involvement of other respondents, including Professor Muhammad Lawal Atanda, Director of the National Horticultural Research Institute, NIHORT.

The court consequently imposed the ₦5 million damages jointly and severally against the respondents.

Court condemns misuse of police powers

A particularly significant aspect of the judgment was the court’s criticism of the deployment of police machinery in circumstances it considered inconsistent with legitimate law-enforcement functions.

Justice Awogboro condemned the use of the police as an instrument for harassment, intimidation or private vendetta.

For lawyers, the judgment touches directly on a persistent professional concern: interference with legal practitioners while performing their professional responsibilities and the use of arrest or detention as pressure in disputes that should ordinarily be resolved through lawful civil or judicial processes.

Sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution protect, respectively, the dignity of the human person and personal liberty.

An arrest must therefore have a lawful foundation, while detention must comply with constitutional and statutory safeguards.

The fact that a person is a lawyer does not create immunity from lawful investigation or arrest. However, legal practitioners, like every other citizen, are entitled to the protections guaranteed by the Constitution.

The judgment reinforces the principle that police investigatory powers must not be transformed into tools of coercion.

Wider concern over treatment of lawyers

The Nigerian Bar Association and individual branches have repeatedly intervened where lawyers allege harassment or detention while representing clients or carrying out professional duties.

LegalLinkz has previously reported interventions by the NBA Litigation Committee and Citizens’ Liberties Committee involving allegations of unlawful detention and assault of legal practitioners.

The Ilorin judgment differs from those complaints because a court has now made a substantive finding of unlawful detention in Kareem’s case and awarded damages.

The decision therefore provides another judicial reminder that abuses of police powers can result not only in declaratory relief but also in financial liability.