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Court orders Kogi Gov, Yahaya Bello to pay N500m to SDP’s Ajaka over rights violation
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fined Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello N500million in damages over the June 3 attack on, and attempted assassination of the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the last governorship election Murtala Ajaka.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a judgment on Thursday, also ordered Bello to tender public apology to Ajaka “for the gross and unwarranted violation” of his fundamental human rights.
The judgment was on a right enforcement suit, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/952/2023 by Ajaka, in which he accused the Kogi Governor of instigating security agencies to attack him and eliminate him over his decision to challenge Bello’s alleged anointed candidate, Ahmed Ododo, who contested on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
He alleged that on June 3, while he left Abuja to pay courtesy visit to the Ohimege of Koto at Koton-karfe, his convoy was attacked after leaving the palace of the Maigari of Lokoja “with hail of bullets in an unprovoked attack against him and his supporters.
“In the midst of the confusion, the vehicle the applicant was travelling in was overtaken by a vehicle with the insignia of the government blocked the expressway, and then the 1st respondent (Bello) physically alighted from the vehicle while ordering the men of the 2nd and 5th respondents (police and SSS) to again open fire on the vehicle of the applicant and his motorcade.”
Ajaka added that several of his vehicles and those belonging to his supporters were riddled with bullets and demobilised; with two other vehicles, branded in his party’s logo set ablaze by the men of the 2nd and 5th respondents allegedly on the direct order of the 1st respondent (Bello).”
The SDP candidate claimed that the deliberate attempt at assassinating him was made under the direct supervision of the governor in an effort to prevent him from contesting the election.
Others are the Director General of the SSS; the Director, SSS Kogi State Command; Commandant-General of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC); Chief of Defence Staff; Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Naval Staff (listed as the 6th to 11th respondents).
Bello denied Ajaka’s allegations, queried the court’s jurisdiction over the case and accused the SDP candidate of instigating an attack against his person.
He argued that the security agencies and offices listed as respondents in the suit are federal agencies, which are not under his direct control, adding that he could not have instigated them to threaten Ajaka’s right to life, liberty and association, as claimed by the applicant.
Bello alleged that Ajaka, in company of thugs and armed militia men, attacked and obstructed his convoy along the Abuja-Kogi Expressway which prompted officers and men of the 2nd to 5th respondents to repel the attacks from the criminals.
The Governor stated that, all through the episode, he never came down from his vehicle and did not order any person to shoot at either Ajaka’s vehicle or any other vehicle .
He added that since the security personnel of the various security agencies, attached to his convoy were charged with ensuring his security, they carried out their duties within the ambit of the law.
Justice Ekwo, in his judgment on Thursday, held that Bello was evasive in his attempt to deny Ajaka’s allegations.
The judge said he found that none of the governor’s averments in the entire affidavit, was specific.
He added: “In other words, they are merely general averments. Furthermore, none of the averments specifically mentions the incident of 3rd June, 2023 and proffer a defence thereto.”
Justice Ekwo found that averments in Bello’s counter affidavit were feeble and failed to effectively challenge Ajaka’s allegations.
The judge said he found that the account of what transpired on June 3 by the governor’s Aide De Camp (ADC), DSP Iwanger Ifeoma Akaya, was in conflict with the account of SP Elvis Aguebor, who was also at the scene.
“It is not hard to see that the 1st respondent was acting clever when he sent his Aide De Camp to make a report to the same police that acted in concert with him at the scene of the shooting, after preventing the applicant (Ajaka) from entering Lokoja,” he said.
Justice Ekwo added: “It is my opinion that it is in the attempt of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents (the security agencies) to make a case to cover up for the act of the 1st respondent (Bello) and the officers of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents that has caused the obvious inconsistencies in their evidence.”
The judge observed that none of the respondents’ affidavit evidence was able to address the incident of June 3, which was the main subject of Ajaka’s case.
Justice Ekwo said: “It is my finding that the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th respondents violated the rights of the applicant as enshrined in Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
“The case of the applicant succeeds on the merit against the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th respondents in this case and I so hold.
“In awarding damages in this case, I will take into account the trauma of the applicant of being shot at by those whose statutory duty is to protect the citizens, acting under the command of the 1st respondent (Bello) who is statutorily the chief security officer of a state for a cause that is manifestly unlawful but inhuman.
“I will also take into consideration the physical and mental anguish of the applicant when he stood in utter helplessness and watched the 1st respondent using his political might through the apparatus of the state for security and law enforcement to shoot and burn down the campaign vehicles of the applicant’s political party.
“I will further take into account the near-death experience of the applicant and the mental torture that comes with it, when the vehicle in which he was, was riddled with bullets from the guns that ought to have been used to protect him and other citizens.
“It must be understood that fundamental rights of all citizens are sacrosanct and unless as authorised by law, any action by which an unlawful breach thereof is successfully proved, will be determined to reflect the depth of condemnation by the court.”
The judge struck out the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th respondents from the case in the grounds that he found no evidence linking them to the incident of June 3 or any claim against them.
He declared that the unprovoked shooting at Ajaka, his cars and his supporters by armed officers of 2nd to 7th respondents and Bello’s thugs on June 3 was reprehensible and a gross violation of his right to life and dignity of his human person as enshrined under Sections 33 and 34 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and Articles 4 and 5 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, Cap. A9 Laws of the Federation, 2004.
…Mbah: Enugu has a lot of success stories to tell in 3 years
Enugu State has shone brilliantly at the BusinessDay States Competitiveness and Investment Readiness Awards (SCIRA) 2025, carting home the Infrastructure Development Competitiveness Award and Outstanding Performance in Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) Award.
Governor Peter Mbah, represented by the Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Ben Okoh and the Executive Chairman, Enugu State Internal Revenue Service (ESIRS), Mr. Emmanuel Nnamani, received the awards on behalf of the state government in Abuja, Thursday night.
Presenting the awards, the Publisher/CEO of BusinessDay Media Limited, said Governor Mbah had impacted public infrastructure in a way that goes beyond just playing politics.
“In the last six months, I have had the opportunity of travelling to Enugu three times. The first time I visited in January, my taxi driver was eager to take me around. That caught my imagination. I began to ask questions and I began to look around.
“One thing I found especially quite interesting was that Governor Mbah did not set aside everything that he met, which could have been a waste of public resources. He looked at what is good and he rebuilt them; the ones that were not completed, he completed them.
“Two things that struck me because I had to ask a question, where does he get the money? I saw good roads, and I don’t mean good roads in the major highways, I mean good roads even in the communities that are far away from the prime areas of the state capital, Enugu.
“I thought that that is a very good example of a private sector person, who knows what to do with resources, because if you use resources well, you get more from little and that is what the governor has done. And for that, Governor Mbah is receiving this award. He has impacted public infrastructure in a way that goes beyond just playing politics,” he stated.
Speaking, Engr. Okoh thanked BusinessDay for recognising the Mbah Administration’s efforts at rewriting the narrative of the state, stressing that Enugu had a lot of success stories to tell in just three years.
He, however, described the awards as a motivation to do more, noting, “as the governor always says, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Okoh went on to reel out some of the achievements of the administration, saying that “Enugu State has witnessed an unprecedented infrastructural revolution, the type we have never seen since the advent of this present democracy in 1999.”
“Projects that were inherited even from governments that left office in 2007- for instance, the International Conference Centre, Mbah has completed it. Hotel Presidential, the flagship hotel of the old Eastern Region, and the Nigergas Company, which has remained moribund for over 30 years, have been revived.
“Being the commissioner for Works and Infrastructure in the state, I can stand here confidently to say that no government since 1999 achieved what Governor Mbah has achieved in three years.
“I can say that in terms of road construction, in just three years, we have done far more than double what any other government did in eight years. No government in Enugu since 1999 did up to 600Km of roads in eight years.
“Under Governor Mbah, we have 267 smart schools across the state and 260 Primary Healthcare Centres to our credit.
“We are developing the New Enugu City, a world-class smart city. The present Enugu City is about 14,000 hectares, while the New City is approximately 10,000 hectares. To put this in perspective, the New Enugu City is almost the same size as Paris, Milan or Barcelona, making it one of the largest planned urban developments in Africa.
The New Enugu City is also larger than Manchester or the entire Phase One of the Federal Capital City, Abuja, which comprises the districts of Asokoro, Maitama, Maitama Extension, Wuse I (Zone 1 – 7), Wuse II, Garki I (Area 1 – 11), Garki II, the Central Business District, Three Arms Zone, Guzape I, and Guzape II.
This is the first time a state in Nigeria would be undertaking an integrated infrastructure development, which is what we have in the FCT where all the facilities in the modern city are underground, and telecommunications lines- the fibre optics, the electrical cables, water pipes, everything is underground. It is not just a vision; the projects are already ongoing.
“There is no particular sector that Governor Peter Ndubuisi Mbah has not touched, be it tourism, security, agriculture, education or even transport sector where the administration floated Enugu Air, built five ultramodern transport terminals and launched over 150 CNG buses,” he said.
It is also recalled that the Mbah Administration has disrupted the state’s IGR space, where he used reforms and technology to grow the state’s IGR exponentially from N26.8bn in 2022 to N37.4bn in 2023, N180.5bn in 2024, and N406.7bn in 2025, with tax revenue accounting for just N51.5bn or 12.6 per cent of the 2025 IGR proceeds.
Meanwhile, BusinessDay is Nigeria’s leading business newspaper and the SCIA recognises and celebrates states that have demonstrated exceptional performance in governance, economic development, infrastructure delivery, investment promotion, and the creation of an enabling environment for businesses and citizens to thrive.
A legal practitioner, Barrister Chinedu Ifeanyi Iloeje, has publicly declared that a man previously believed to be his son is not biologically related to him, following the outcome of a DNA test.
In a public notice published in a newspaper, Iloeje stated that he was allegedly misled by the man’s mother into believing that the individual, identified as Chinedu Francis Iloeje, was his biological son.
According to the notice, DNA testing conducted on the matter established “beyond any doubt” that the man is not his son.
The lawyer further clarified that he never legally adopted the individual, despite the latter bearing the name Chinedu Francis Iloeje.
Disclaimer
Barrister Iloeje explained that the man’s original name is Chinedu Francis Onwualu and stressed that he has no legal or biological relationship with him.
The notice also informed members of the public, the Greater Iloeje Family, the Umuodu Village Union, Uwani Amokwe Town Union, St. Theresa’s Catholic Church Amokwe, Udi Local Government Council, and other stakeholders of his declaration.
He stated that the disclaimer was made in good faith and while of sound mind, urging the public to take note of the clarification.
The publication has sparked discussions on paternity disputes and the increasing reliance on DNA testing to resolve questions of biological parentage.
Presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) in the forthcoming 2027 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has donated N10 million to assist in the renovation of the burnt Mother of Christ Specialist Hospital, Enugu State.
The former Anambra State governor handed over the cheque for the donation to the hospital management team when he visited the hospital yesterday.
The hospital belongs to the Reverend Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of the Catholic Church.
Mr Peter Obi inspecting the burnt hospital
Addressing the hospital management team after inspecting parts of the burnt hospital, the NDC presidential candidate commended them for their efforts in contributing to healthcare delivery services.
Telling them that even though they might feel that they were not being appreciated for what they were doing, Obi, however, described healthcare delivery services and education as among the “most critical needs of society” and urged them not to relent in what they were doing.
Accompanied during the visit by his Chief of Staff, Commissioner for Housing, as well as Special Adviser on Media when he was Anambra State governor, Prof. Stella Okunna, Prof. Patrick Obi, and Dr. Valentine Obienyem respectively, Obi assured the hospital management team that he would continue to support them.
Part of the hospital gutted by the inferno and inspected by Obi was the Children’s Ward.
Expressing gratitude on behalf of the hospital management, the Chief Medical Director of Immaculate Heart Hospital, Nkpor, Anambra State, Rev. Sister Dr. Maria Nkiruka Okafor, eulogised Obi for his sacrifices and selfless contributions to humanity.
Disclosing that Obi had already credited the hospital’s accountant with the N10 million donation and that he was even the person who called her to inform her that he had received the sad news of the inferno and promised to donate towards the renovation, Rev. Sister Okafor described him as a rare politician.
She prayed that God would grant him his ambition to become President of the country and enable him to achieve his desire to transform it.
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