In a blistering judgment on Thursday, Justice Musa Kakaki of the Federal High Court in Lagos slammed the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) with ₦10 million in damages for trampling the constitutional rights of #EndSARS protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate on 20 October 2024.
The ruling lambasted the police for “unjustly harassing” peaceful memorial demonstrators marking the fourth anniversary of the nationwide drive against police brutality—a stark reminder that even in commemoration, the force of the state can morph into brute force
Officers of the Lagos State command arrested at least 20 activists—including Hassan Taiwo Soweto and Osugba Blessing—detaining them in a cramped, unventilated police van for hours before releasing them without charge.
The applicants, backed by Education Rights Campaign, Take It Back Movement and the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, had sued under a fundamental rights enforcement action, seeking redress for what they called an “egregious violation” of freedoms enshrined in sections 38 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution.
This ruling emerges against the painful backdrop of the original #EndSARS protests in October 2020, when at least 56 civilians were killed nationwide by security forces, including a confirmed 12 peaceful protesters gunned down at Lekki itself, according to Amnesty International’s on‑the‑ground investigation.
That massacre ignited global outrage, drew condemnations from the African Union and ECOWAS courts, and spurred human‑rights tabulations that remain seared into Nigeria’s collective memory.
Yet Nigeria is not alone in confronting police impunity. In the United States, the 1991 Rodney King civil suit saw Los Angeles jurors award the victim US\$3.8 million after officers’ excessive brutality was caught on video, while the Rampart scandal forced the LAPD into settlements topping US\$125 million to atone for systemic corruption and unlawful tactics
Such precedents underscore that democratic societies must keep a cost—both financial and reputational—when state violence fractures public trust.
A statement from the Education Rights Campaign hailed Thursday’s decision as “a watershed moment for accountability,” while a Lagos police spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity, lamented that “operational decisions on crowd control are now vulnerable to retroactive legal scrutiny.”
One of the applicants, Uadiale Kingsley, reflected, “We stood peacefully with placards; we never expected to be imprisoned like common criminals. This judgment validates our struggle.”.
As Nigeria edges toward elections in 2027 and grapples with calls for comprehensive security‑sector reform, Thursday’s ₦10 million judgment may be more than compensation—it could be the catalyst for a recalibrated contract between the governed and those sworn to protect them.
If history is any guide, when justice rings loud enough to rattle the armour of authority, reform follows in its wake.
