A Federal High Court sitting in Owerri has awarded an N200m against the Nigerian Army for killing a businessman, Noel Chigbu in 2021.
Justice Maureen Onyetenu, who delivered the judgment, held that the request by the applicant that the Nigerian soldiers were liable for the killing of the businessman at the Amakaohia flyover on April 30, 2021, was proven beyond doubt.
Brigadier Gen. G.O. Anyalebechi (retd.), who represented the family of the deceased demanded N1bn in compensation for the killing of the businessman but the court settled for N200m.
Anyalebechi said after the court judgement that he was satisfied with the court verdict.
He said the governor of Imo State and the Chief of Defence Staff were not found liable because, even though the governor of Imo State invited the military to Imo State, he was not the commanding officer of the soldiers who killed Noel Chigbu.
He also told Punch that the Chief of Defence Staff is not also the commanding officer of the soldiers who killed the businessman.
“In military jurisprudence, the Chief of Army Staff and the commander of 34 artillery Brigade Command Obinze are the commanding officers of the officers who killed Noel Chigbu. They are liable for what their subordinates did.
“Instead of the Chief of Army Staff and the commander of the 34 artillery Brigade command Obinze to punish the erring officers, they endorsed their actions. I am satisfied with the judgment but I am ready to meet them at the higher court if they want us to wash our dirty clothes in the public.”
The applicant and elder brother of the deceased, Tobechi Chigbu, said that though no amount of money could equate to the life of their brother, the judgment was a relief to his family.
