A former Nigerian Minister of State for Education, Kenneth Gbagi has been found guilty of stripping workers in his hotel business in Delta State naked and torturing them for allegedly stealing his money.
The politician, who is the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), was accused of ordering four of his staff to be stripped naked and photographed over a theft case at his Signatious Hotel in Effurun.
In February 2021, against Gbaji’s application asking that he should not be arrested, the police prayed the Federal High Court, Abuja, to allow the security agency to investigate him.
Kunle Edun, Counsel to one of the victims, Victor Ephraim, had filed a lawsuit Number EHC/FHR/80/2020 against the politician and Signatious Hotel, saying that between September 17 and 18, 2020, Gbagi used the policemen attached to him to forcefully strip him naked in public..
The complainant said that he was tortured alongside three other female staff members, adding that Gbagi collected their ATM cards and transferred all the money in their bank accounts to the hotel’s account.
Delivering Judgment today, July 19, Justice Vera Agbodje held that the stories presented by Gbagi were false, concocted and not believable.
She said that Gbagi took laws into his own hands by torturing his ex-staff and she consequently ordered him to pay N1million for violating the fundamental human rights of Ephraim.
