A High Court in Akure had ordered the Ondo state government to pay N30 million to Olusegun for illegally shooting him.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, O.M Adejumo, the presiding judge, held that the shooting, which led to the amputation of the victim’s leg, was a flagrant violation of his dignity, adding that it was sheer victimization and dehumanization.
Tope Temokun, lawyer to a commercial motorcyclist who lost his leg to a gunshot by the Ondo state’s security network agency code-named Amotekun, Olusegun Oluwarotimi has asked Governor Rotimi Akeredolu to pay N30million in compensation to his client as directed by the court.
A High Court in Akure had ordered the Ondo state government to pay N30 million to Olusegun for illegally shooting him.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, O.M Adejumo, the presiding judge, held that the shooting, which led to the amputation of the victim’s leg, was a flagrant violation of his dignity, adding that it was sheer victimization and dehumanization.
Adejumo ordered that damages should be paid to the applicant to cater for his physical and emotional injuries.
“The illegal shooting at Araromi Street on August 9, 2021, in Akure by Amotekun was a violation of the applicant’s human rights,” the judge held.
“The court hereby orders the respondents to jointly pay the sum of N20 million to the applicant as general damages and N10million as exemplary damages.”
Topekun in a letter to Akeredolu on Thursday asked him to personally wade into the matter for a lasting legacy.
According to him, the governor should intervene on the side of “the needy, the poor, the disprivileged and the victim, to ensure that Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi” is paid the judgment sum, so that he could start to pick up the pieces of his life.
The letter read, “You will recall sir that by the latter dated the 24th day of October 2022, we to wrote to your office sir, to seek justice and reparation for Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi, an okada rider (a commercial motorcyclist), who was shot in the leg on the 9th day of August 2021 by an Amotekun officer at Araromi junction Akure leading to the amputation of his leg. Before this letter, by the letter dated 18th of October 2022, we had written to the Commandant of Amotekun Corps in Ondo State, seeking his intervention for Our Client.
“Sir, following the amputation of the leg of Our Client, his livelihood, his ability to provide for his family and to send his children to school have all been permanently clogged by reason of his inability to walk on two legs, alongside the necessary debts he and his family members have incurred in order to settle his medical bills. Beyond all these, while this case was pending he was still admitted into the hospital for treatment on the 10th of November 2022, as a result of pus coming out from the point of amputation of his leg and each time money to eat has been a great challenge, not to mention drugs.
“When it became apparent that there was no more hope for Our Client as a result of the amputation of one of his legs which has drastically caused his livelihood to take a serious plunge, turning him from a man who was able to personally provide for his family to a man who looks to the hands of strangers for food and now limps on one leg with support of crutches, on the 28th of October 2022, Mr Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi had to proceed before the Ondo State High Court to seek redress in this matter.”
Yesterday being, the 29th of March 2023, the Ondo State High Court gave judgment in the case filed by Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi and awarded the sum of THIRTY MILLION NAIRA as damages in favor of Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi.
“At this stage sir, the government has two options in law, namely: to comply with the judgment of the court by paying Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi the sum awarded by the court; alternatively, the government could also appeal the judgment, on any good ground. Although the latter option is a constitutional right and legally exercisable by any judgment debtor, but we believe the government of Ondo State is not just any judgment debt or but a government whose primary responsibility is the welfare of its citizens and in this case a citizen who is now an amputee.
“No doubt, it might also be argued that the sum awarded is excessive in this case but the picture will become clearer while the sum is far from being excessive if we introspect on Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi's state of disability and ask how much is a man's leg worth?
“Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi is now in a state of total privation and depression consequent upon which his two children had to drop out of school and his wife abandoned him and remarried to another man. We, on behalf of Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi, hereby passionately appeal to His Excellency to personally wade into this matter for a lasting legacy, to intervene on the side of the needy, the poor, the disprivileged and the victim, to ensure that Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi is paid the judgment sum, so that he could start to pick up the pieces of his life.”