DSS compensates Sokoto businessman with free medical treatment, N20m for mistaken identity shooting

In a rare gesture of accountability and restitution, the Department of State Services (DSS) has officially invited a Sokoto-based businessman to its hospital in Abuja for free medical treatment nine years after he was mistakenly shot during a security operation.

The man, who was a victim of mistaken identity, had been left injured during the DSS operation nearly a decade ago. Six years ago, a court ruled in his favor and awarded him ₦10 million in damages, but it wasn’t until recently that the compensation was fully honored.

In March 2025, DSS Director-General Tosin Ajayi not only approved the long-overdue court-awarded sum but also offered an additional ₦10 million as a show of goodwill and to compensate for the years lost. This brings the total compensation to ₦20 million.

Ajayi had directed the DSS hospital to officially integrate the businessman into the Services’ medical care system, which would enable him to enjoy free medical services anytime he so desired.

This newspaper gathered that the businessman arrived at the hospital a few days ago and has been undergoing free medical tests and treatment from the hospital’s best doctors.

A source in the agency said: “True to the DG’s directive, the man has been in the VIP ward which, of course, is fully air-conditioned.

“They have been running a series of checks and giving him round-the-clock medical attention, in order to make him regain full control of his limbs. I even understand the DG asked that he be fed for free.”

In 2016, during a pre-dawn operation to arrest a suspected gunrunner in Jos, Plateau State, DSS operatives mistakenly shot and injured the businessman who incidentally bears the same name with the suspected gunrunner.

The gunrunner was eventually arrested.

Two years after the shooting, in 2018, the businessman, through his lawyer, Idris Akibu, approached a Federal High Court in Bauchi.

Delivering judgement on the matter with suit number FHC/J/CS/18/2018, the court, presided by Justice Muhammed Shittu Abubakar, ordered the DSS to pay ₦10 million in damages to the injured businessman.

“This is the third DG since this unfortunate case of mistaken identity happened. We were very happy when our new DG directed us to pay the money. He even added another ₦10 million to the victim’s money.

It goes to show that, not only can security agencies be law abiding, we can also be full of the milk of human kindness,” the source said.