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An Abuja division of the federal high court has ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay the sum of N2 million as general damages to Omoyele Sowore, the publisher of Sahara Reporters, over the unlawful seizure of his phone in 2019 at the point of his arrest.

Justice Anwuli Chiekere while making the order held that the suit by Mr Sowore does not constitute an abuse of court processes as claimed by the respondent’s counsel.

She, therefore, ordered that the phones and money seized from Sowore in August 2019 should be returned to him and N2 million paid to him as damages.

She also ordered the DSS to apologize to Mr Sowore publicly in two national dailies within 30 days.

The judge further ruled that the forfeiture of his phones since 2019, using the subterfuge of his alleged links with “terrorists” is illegal, null and void.