The Nigerian Bar Association, Gboko Branch, has secured a judgment awarding ₦500 million in general and exemplary damages to one of its members, B. B. Iliamkondo, Esq., who was assaulted and battered by personnel of the Nigeria Police Force in Kwande Local Government Area of Benue State.
The judgment was delivered on 11 September 2026 by Hon. Justice M. M. Ikwulono of the Benue State High Court of Justice, sitting in Makurdi. The court also ordered the police to author and publish an apology to the lawyer in national newspapers with nationwide circulation.
According to the facts of the case, sometime in May 2026, a client retained the services of B. B. Iliamkondo, Esq. to secure bail at a police outpost in Koti-Mbaduku, Shangey-Yav, Kwande Local Government Area. On arrival, the officer in charge, Inspector Terngu Ikyuur, allegedly demanded money as a condition for the bail. When the lawyer questioned the demand, noting that bail is statutorily free of charge, the officer became infuriated and ordered him to leave the outpost or risk being implicated in his client’s case.
The lawyer proceeded to submit a written application for bail, but the officer seized him by the shirt, pushed him to the ground and detained him alongside his client and other inmates. The following day, Inspector Terngu Ikyuur reportedly brought the lawyer out of detention and forced him to carry on his head a bucket of faeces and urine left overnight by inmates. He was compelled to sing that he was a charge-and-bail lawyer while being marched around the community with a loaded gun pointed at his head and threats to kill him if he stopped. He was later released after being brutalised and stripped half-naked, following the intervention of colleagues.
The Chairman of the NBA Gboko Branch, F. M. Z. Felix Uwar, Esq., promptly empanelled a legal team that instituted Suit No. MHC/4110M/2026 before the Benue State High Court. The suit was brought by B. B. Iliamkondo, Esq. against Inspector Terngu Ikyuur, CSP Banfa U. Nanzing, the Commissioner of Police Benue State, the Inspector-General of Police, the Police Service Commission and the Nigeria Police Force.
In its judgment, the court upheld the application and entered judgment in favour of the applicant, awarding the sum of ₦500 million as general and exemplary damages solely for the violation of his fundamental rights by the police. The court further directed that an apology be published in national newspapers and a copy furnished to the applicant.
Members of the legal team described the judgment as sound in law, compensatory to their colleague and a deterrent against police excesses. They also expressed appreciation to the Chairman of the NBA Gboko Branch for ensuring that justice was pursued on behalf of their member.
