The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure on Tuesday upheld the judgment of the Ondo State High Court, which awarded N30 million in damages against the Ondo State Government to Mr. Oluwasegun Oluwarotimi, a 36-year-old commercial motorcyclist who was shot by the state’s Amotekun Corps in August 2021.
Oluwarotimi, who was abandoned after the incident, later had his leg amputated due to the severity of the gunshot injury. The initial judgment, delivered on March 29, 2023, by Justice Omolara Adejumo of the Ondo State High Court, condemned the shooting and ordered the state government to pay N30 million in compensation. The case was filed by Oluwarotimi’s lawyer, Mr. Tope Temokun.
Speaking on Tuesday, Temokun revealed that the appeal filed by the Ondo State Government against the judgment was struck out by the Court of Appeal. He also confirmed that the court awarded an additional N250,000 as costs against the state government.
“On March 29, 2023, the Ondo State High Court presided over by Justice Omolara Adejumo delivered judgment in favor of Mr. Oluwarotimi, awarding N30 million as compensation after condemning in the strongest terms the illegal shooting by the Ondo State Security Network Agency, code-named Amotekun. The incident left my client as an amputee, now reliant on crutches,” Temokun stated.
Following the judgment, Temokun disclosed that he wrote letters to the governor of Ondo State and the state’s Attorney-General on March 30, 2023, appealing for compliance with the ruling. In his letters, he urged the state government to honor the judgment, stating that using public resources to appeal against a vulnerable citizen was against public policy. However, these letters reportedly went unanswered.
Despite this, the Ondo State Government filed an appeal against the judgment on April 3, 2023. Temokun, in response, challenged the appeal’s competency through a preliminary objection.
When the case came up before the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, the court, after hearing submissions from both parties, agreed that the appeal filed by the Ondo State Government was incompetent and subsequently struck it out.
“The Court of Appeal awarded the sum of N250,000 against the Ondo State Government as costs,” Temokun concluded.
This judgment reaffirms the initial ruling of the Ondo State High Court, ensuring that Oluwarotimi receives justice after the devastating injury that altered his life.