A Federal High Court in Calabar has awarded N100 million in damages against the Nigeria Police Force and other respondents over the torture and killing of a 22-year-old man, Onyekachi Mba.
Mr Mba was beaten and shot by police security personnel at the Government House, Calabar, Cross River State, on 1 August 2025. The incident happened in front of the governor’s residence after Mr Mba insisted on seeing the governor to deliver what he described as a message from God.
He later died at the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, Calabar, from injuries sustained during the assault and shooting.
Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu delivered the judgement on Thursday in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the applicant and the deceased’s mother, Victoria Mba, through her counsel, Roland Ndubuka.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the suit was filed on 10 October 2025.
It sought the enforcement of the deceased’s fundamental rights as guaranteed under Sections 35, 36, 37 and 41 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended).
It includes the rights to personal liberty, the dignity of the human person and freedom of movement.
The applicant had asked the court to determine whether the torture, inhuman treatment and eventual killing of Mr Mba violated his constitutionally guaranteed rights and to award appropriate compensation for the alleged breach.
In her judgement, Justice Ojukwu held that the torture, assault and killing of Mr Mba by a police personnel attached to the residence of Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu, on 1 August 2025, was unlawful, unwarranted and constituted a flagrant violation of his fundamental rights.
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The court described the officers’ actions as an “abuse of power and executive recklessness”.
Justice Ojukwu consequently awarded N100 million in damages against the respondents, ruling that the amount could be paid jointly or severally.
NAN reports that the respondents in the suit were the Nigeria Police Force, Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Edet, the Police Service Commission, and the Commissioner of Police in Cross River.
Superintendent of Police Emmanuel Dickson, the chief security officer at the Government House, Calabar, was also among the respondents.
