Chocolate City boss, Audu Maikori has finally found some justice from the courts as a Federal High Court in Abuja awarded a 40 million naira settlement fee to him.
The court ordered this against Kaduna state governor Nasir El-Rufai.
Recall that the governor had had Maikori arrested for posting inciting tweets about an alleged case of murder by Fulani herdsmen in Kaduna. This turned out to be false information, for which Maikori gave an unreserved apology after deleting the tweets.
Justice John Tsoho ruled Maikori’s arrest in Lagos as unlawful and ordered the respondents to the suit: Governor el-Rufai, IG of Police, Commissioner of Police and the Attorney-General of Kaduna state to pay the damages amounting to N40m.
In his ruling he said; “This judgement is without prejudice to offences that the applicant is standing trial for.
“The judgement will serve as a lesson to law enforcement agencies, they should discharge their duties in accordance with constitutional requirements, and not discharging their duties with impunity”, he held.
He did add that while the freedom to express oneself on social media was an inalienable right, it was not to be abused, “Social media cannot be without social responsibility. It would amount to an invitation to anarchy to say that the cyber space is beyond control”. he said.