The State Security Service (SSS) has compensated Richard Ali (pseudonym), a Sokoto businessman its officers carelessly shot due to mistaken identity, after making him beg for seven years.

The SSS operatives, whose identities were not disclosed, shot Ali at his residence in Jos, Plateau State, on April 2, 2016. They had mistaken him for a gunrunner.

These security officers shot Ali in the thigh without confirming his identity.

This was after they showed up at his house at 4 am to request his name, which he supplied. However, they doubted he gave accurate information and shot him in the lower limb.

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Upon realising their mistake, the SSS officers took Ali to the Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH) but abandoned him there. They later arrested the actual suspect and transferred him to Abuja.

In February 2018, a Federal High Court in Bauchi ordered the SSS to pay Ali N10 million for violating his fundamental rights. However, the agency refused to comply.

The businessman, represented by his lawyer Akibu Idris, sued the SSS in 2016. After a prolonged legal battle, the Court of Appeal in Jos dismissed the SSS’s appeal in 2019 due to procedural non-compliance.

The SSS only paid the compensation after Idris filed a lawsuit to enforce the judgment debt by appealing directly to the Attorney-General’s office.

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Adeola Ajayi, the Director-General of SSS, gave Ali an additional N10 million.

While waiting for compensation, the victim was forced to relocate from Jos to Sokoto. Ali took N8.7 million in loans to survive while waiting for justice. He also lost his fertilizer business, his home and two of his children.

Editor’s Note: The Sokoto businessman requested anonymity.