Abuja high court awards Emefiele N100m in damages for wrongful arrest by DSS and EFCC

NIGERIA'S federal government has been slammed with a N100m ($111,500) fine by a Federal Capital Territory high court for violating the human rights of former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor Godwin Emefiele.

Yesterday, Justice Olukayode Adeniyi fined the government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for unlawfully detaining Mr Emefiele. Justice Adeniyi further barred the federal government and any of its agencies, from re-arresting, detaining and harassing Mr Emefiele over any alleged offence without first obtaining a warrant of arrest from a court of competent jurisdiction.

In a landmark ruling, the judge made the order after he declared the detention of Mr Emefiele for over five months by the Department of State Services and the EFCC as illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional. According to the judge, the excuse by the federal government that Mr Emefiele was being investigated for other alleged infractions was not tenable.

Justice Adeniyi ruled that the order of detention obtained from a chief magistrate’s court in Wuse, Abuja lacked probative value. He further berated security agencies for first arresting and detaining suspects before investigation.