An Appeal Court sitting in Abuja on Friday ordered the Kaduna State
Government to pay N10.5m as damages to the President of Chocolate City
Group, Audu Maikori.
The court affirmed a Federal High Court judgment that the state
government violated the rights of Maikori when he was arrested in Lagos
in 2017 by a team of policemen and was transferred to the Force
Headquarters in Abuja for misinforming the public via his tweets on
happenings in Southern Kaduna.
Recall that Maikori was first arrested in Lagos on February 17 after a
petition was filed by the Kaduna State Government over a story he
published on his social media pages that turned out to be false.
The story had to do with the purported killing of five College of
Education students in Southern Kaduna.
The record label boss later apologized for posting the story, adding
that his driver relayed it to him and said his (driver) brother was
among the victims.
He was subsequently transferred to Force Headquarters in Abuja for
interrogations and was eventually released on bail and cleared of any
complicity by the police.
Maikori was later rearrested and taken to Kaduna where he was detained
for four days before he was charged to court.
He was granted bail on health grounds.