Lawyer accuses Lagos CP Moshood of dodging letter demanding enforcement of N10m award to Soweto over rights abuse
By Ishaya Ibrahim
A law firm, O&A LP, has written a letter to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Moshood Jimoh, demanding that he comply with the judgment of the Federal High Court on July 24, 2025, which ordered him and the Inspector-General of Police to jointly pay the sum of N10 million in damages to human rights activist Hassan Taiwo Soweto and 24 others.
Recall that on July 24, 2025, the Federal High Court, presided over by Justice M. Kakaki, ruled that the police unjustly harassed protesters who had gathered peacefully during the fourth anniversary of the #EndSARS memorial procession at the Lekki tollgate.
The court found that Soweto and others were arrested and brutalized for exercising their constitutionally guaranteed rights to protest. The judge then ordered the Inspector-General of Police and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police to jointly pay N10 million in damages to the peaceful protesters for violating their fundamental human rights.
But on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, an attempt to submit a letter to the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police demanding compliance with the judgment of July 24, 2025, met a brick wall, according to the protesters’ legal counsel, Joseph Opute, Esq.
The law firm said it had sent a staff member to deliver it by hand to the office of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, but upon seeing the content, the officers refused to accept it, saying it should be routed through the police legal department in Panti. At Panti, the officers there also refused to accept the letter, leaving the law firm with no choice but to send it through a courier service company, DHL.
Opute said the action of the police was further evidence of their disdain for the rule of law.
He said, “CP Jimoh Moshood initially ran away from receiving it, but we have now submitted it via DHL. No hiding place for human rights abusers,” Mr. Opute said after confirming delivery of the letter by DHL to the state command.
