Oba Semiu Ogunjobi, the Olorile of Orile Ifo, Ogun State, is the target of a N200 million lawsuit brought by human rights attorney Femi Falana for the alleged attack of Elder Areola Abraham Love. The lawsuit, which was filed on March 7, 2025, in the Ogun State High Court in Ota, aims to uphold the 73-year-old victim’s rights to life, liberty, and dignity.CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
In the Nigerian Tribune, Vanguard, and The Punch, Falana is also calling for a public apology. In February, a video went viral that showed Elder Love kneeling by a roadside as Oba Ogunjobi and other individuals attacked him. Due to the outcry caused by the video, the state authorities suspended the king for six months and he was charged with assault.
Falana claimed in the lawsuit that the old man’s fundamental rights under the 1999 Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights were infringed by the physical assault that occurred on January 21, 2025.
The originating notice of motion filed on Elder Love’s behalf, which our correspondent was able to obtain on Sunday, stated among other things that the court should declare: “That the respondent (Oba Ogunjobi) and his agents’ systematic beatings, kicking, and striking of the applicant (Elder Love) in front of a crowd at Orile Ifo, Ifo, Ogun State on January 21, 2025 constitute a threat to the applicant’s life and thereby violate his fundamental right to life guaranteed by Section 33 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 Constitution and article 5 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.”
“That the Respondent and his agents’ January 21, 2025, slapping and punching of the Applicant’s head in front of a crowd in Orile Ifo, Ifo, Ogun State, constitutes cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and thereby violates the Applicant’s fundamental right to the dignity of his person as guaranteed by Part 34 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 Constitution and Article 4 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act Cap A10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 Constitution.”
A court judgment instructing the Respondent to pay the Applicant N200,000,000.00 (two hundred million Naira) for the infringement of his fundamental rights to life, dignity, and freedom of movement was another request made by the human rights attorney. “An order compelling the Respondent to place an apology in the Nigerian Tribune, Punch, and Vanguard newspapers to the Applicant.”CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>
