Justice Obafemi Adamson of a Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja has dismissed the suit filed against the police by Ebi Tosan, a _suspect in the March 12, 2015 robbery of the Lekki branch of the First City Monument Bank.
Tosan, 22, who was arrested alongside other suspects by the police on April 5, 2015 had approached the court, seeking bail and claiming compensation for damages in the sum of N1m against the police.
His counsel, Chief S.W. Baidi, argued that the suspect’s continued detention without bail was an infringement and curtailment of his constitutional rights to personal liberty, freedom of movement and presumption of innocence.
He had sought a declaration that the arrest, torture and continued detention of the suspect without bail, was a violation of his fundamental human rights to personal liberty and freedom of movement pursuant to sections 34(1)(a), 35(1)(4) and Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution.
He prayed for an order directing the police to admit him to bail and to also compensate him with N1m over the unlawful infringement on his rights.
Delivering judgment in the matter on Friday, Justice Obafemi Adamson, dismissed Tosan’s suit “for lacking in merit.”
Though Tosan claimed that his public parade by the police had prejudiced his right to presumption of innocence, Justice Adamson said the suspect did not file any material evidence, like newspapers report, to back his claim.
The judge said the suspect has not produce enough evidence before the court to justify the reliefs being sought and therefore dismissed the suit.
The gang, which Tosan alleged to be a member had reportedly killed about five persons, including three policemen and a fish hawker, before carting away about N15m belonging to the First City Monument Bank on Admiralty Way, Lekki, Lagos State on March 12, 2015.
The gang had stormed the bank in military uniforms and engaged the police in a gun duel for more than 30 minutes before escaping through the lagoon in a speed boat.
Tosan and three other suspects had earlier been taken before a Lagos magistrate’s court, which ordered their remand in Ikoyi prisons.
The suspects, Tosan, Duke Odogbo, 38;_ Lawrence Kingsley, 31; and Ekelemo Kuete, 30 , would remain in custody pending the advice of the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP).