Justice F.N. Ogazi of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered substitute service on Assistant Inspector General Jimoh Olohundare Moshood after the court found personal service failed in a rights violation suit filed by anti-demolition protest coordinator Hassan Taiwo Soweto.
The Inspector General of Police and the Police Service Commission are named as the first and second respondents in the suit. Barrister L.N. Ogbebor, counsel for Soweto, who held brief for Barrister Joseph Opute, said all respondents had been served the originating processes except Moshood, the third respondent, who she said has been evading service.
In an ex parte motion, Ogbebor said there had been two attempts to serve the originating processes on Moshood, but he was evading service. She asked that the documents be served by posting them on the court’s notice board or, alternatively, through the legal department of the Nigeria Police Force, Zone 2 Police Command in Onikan, Lagos.
In a brief ruling, Ogazi granted the application and adjourned the case to October 28, 2026, for a report on service.
The suit against Moshood stems from an anti-demolition and anti-land-grabbing protest held January 28, 2026, at the Lagos State House of Assembly by displaced residents of Makoko and other waterfronts communities. Soweto, who coordinated the protest, said Moshood personally participated in and supervised the attack on him, which he said caused an injury to his lower back.
In court papers, Soweto asked the court to declare that “the unwarranted use of teargas by the third respondent to disperse the peaceful assembly led by the applicant on January 28, 2026, and the subsequent infliction of a lumbosacral spine injury on the applicant by the third respondent, constitute infringements of the applicant’s rights to peaceful assembly, association and dignity of his person guaranteed under Sections 34 and 40 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended.”
Soweto also asked the court to declare that Moshood has no right to torture or inflict injuries on any Nigerian citizen in the course of exercising rights conferred under Chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution.
Another declaration sought was that Moshood lacks the propriety, temperament, decorum and civility to discharge policing responsibilities in a democracy in accordance with the rule of law and international best practices.
He also asked the court to order the first and second respondents to refer Moshood for training in human rights and international best practices, rules and standards of policing in a democracy.
Soweto is demanding N70 million in damages against Moshood for allegedly torturing and inflicting a lumbosacral spine injury on him on January 28, 2026, while he exercised his right to peaceful assembly and association under Section 40 of the Constitution.
After the hearing, activists under the Coalition Against Demolition, Forced Eviction, Land Grabbing and Displacement chanted solidarity songs outside the court in support of Soweto.
Jude Ojo, a representative of the Ilaje Otumara community, read a statement on behalf of the group saying fresh demolitions have resumed in some Lagos communities.
Part of the statement reads: “The Coalition Against Demolition, Forced Eviction, Land Grabbing and Displacement in Lagos State hereby stands in solidarity with the people of Precious Seed and other waterfront communities in Oworonshoki as they face fresh attacks by land grabbers who descended on the community this morning, setting ablaze makeshift structures where evictees have been living since the mass forced evictions of September-December 2025.”
Ojo said since the evictions, hundreds of evictees have remained among the rubble, sleeping in makeshift structures on their land even amid heavy rains, with nowhere else to go.