The hope of ace comedian cum actor, Mr. Babatunde Omidina, popularly known as Baba Suwe, of getting N25m compensation awarded to him by a Lagos High court, against National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, for his unlawful detention during his alleged cocaine saga, was on Friday quashed by a Lagos division of Appeal Court of Nigeria.
In a judgment by a three man judges’ panel, the court held that the award of N25 million to Mr. Omidina as damages for the violation of his fundamental human rights was “pervasive” and “wrong.”
“The detention was not up to a year, what then informs the award of N25 million?” Justice Rita N. Pemu, who read the judgment, asked.
“There was simply no basis for that; he was held for nine days. There was no evidence to attract such punitive damages. The judgment is not proper and, therefore, set aside,” the judge added.
Mr. Omidina was, in October 2011, detained for 24 days by the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, NDLEA, on the suspicion of ingestion of illicit drugs.
In her judgment on November 24, 2011, Yetunde Idowu, the trial judge of a Lagos High Court, ruled in favour of the ace comedian and ordered the NDLEA to pay Mr. Omidina N25 million as compensation for keeping him in custody beyond the legal time limit on the suspicion of drug ingestion.
The judge also ordered the agency to tender a public apology to the actor in two national newspapers.
Mr. Omidina was arrested and detained on October 12 at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, on his way to Paris.
After he had not excreted any hard drug for over a week, the NDLEA secured an order from the Federal High court in Lagos on October 21, 2011, to further detain the comedian for 15 days.
The appellate court on Friday said that the detention of the actor cum comedian between October 12 and 21 “is not unreasonable.”
Justice Pemu held that the NDLEA was right in seeking an order from a Federal High Court for Mr. Omidina’s continued detention after a CT and body scan revealed drug deposits in his system.
“Based on the results of the scan, the appellant’s (NDLEA) suspicion strengthened and the respondent (Mr. Omidina) was placed under more observation.
“The order of the Federal High Court absolves the appellant of any culpability in the violation of the respondent’s fundamental human rights,” Justice Pemu added.
Reacting to the judgment, Bamidele Aturu, Mr. Omidina’s lawyer, said that he disagreed with the principle used to arrive at the judgment by the Appeal Court, and that his client would appeal it at the Supreme Court.