Richard Akinnola, a legal practitioner and author, has replied to Kunle Togun, the former director-general of the State Security Service (SSS), over his recent claims about Gani Fawehinmi, the late human rights lawyer.
Togun was the deputy director of the SSS when Dele Giwa, the late publisher of Newswatch magazine, was killed in Lagos by a parcel bomb on October 19, 1986.
Fawehinmi doggedly accused Togun, alongside Haliru Akilu, a former director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI), as the prime suspect in the journalist’s death.
However, in a recent interview with Edmund Obilo, a radio presenter, Togun claimed that the court dismissed Fawehinmi’s case against him and Akilu.
He added that the verdict also awarded them damages, which “Fawehinmi paid”.
“I can remember how much he paid. We sued him for calling us the killers, for libel. We sued him for trauma,” Togun had said.
The truth is that Gani didn’t pay any damages. Let me help Brigadier Togun.
“The court awarded N6 million as damages to him and Akilu for defamation, that is, N3 million apiece, but Gani challenged the decision at the appellate court.
“Except I check my records, I can’t say precisely now what happened to the matter at the appellate courts.”
Fawehinmi was a civil rights lawyer popular for his unimpeachable stands on holding people in power to justice.
He died in 2009 after a prolonged battle with lung cancer.