Justice Peter Kekemeke of the Federal Capital Territory High Court, on Monday, slammed a N10 million fine on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and its former Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa, for alleged rights violation.
Also affected are the anti-graft agency’s operative identified as Calistus and Fidelity Bank Plc.
The judge, in his ruling, held that the prosecution had proven that there was merit in a suit filed by one Michael Kundera, who sought to enforce his fundamental rights.
In the suit filed by his counsel O. Orji, the applicant told the court that in 2023, he was invited by the EFCC, detained, and refused administrative bail in a matter decided already by court over a plot of land at the Foreign Affairs quarters in Abuja.
He declared that the land lawfully belonged to him.
According to Kundera, the matter is also pending at the court of appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/533/2021 against the principle of pendente lite.
He, therefore, prayed for an order of the court to declare that his arrest and detention from May 15 and May 16, 2023 was unlawful as it was unconstitutional and a gross violation of his fundamental rights as guaranteed under sections 35 (4)(5) and 36 (1) and (5) of the 1999 constitution as amended.
In his application, Kundera had prayed for a “declaration that the respondents have exceeded their bounds by their continued invitation and threats on the applicant; an order restraining the respondents from the continued invitation, a threat to re-arrest and detain the applicant.
“Payment of the sum of N500 million as exemplary or aggravated damages is an unconstitutional, inexplicable, unjust, uncouth, and barbaric infringement of the applicant’s fundamental rights.”
In his ruling, Justice Kekemeke held that the respondents had violated the applicant’s fundamental rights by arresting and detaining him from May 15 to May 16, 2023, without charging him to court or releasing him on bail, while the 75-year-old man was also subjected to inhumane treatment.
“I hereby declare that the arrest and detention of the applicant from May 15 to May 16, 2023, was unlawful and violated the applicant’s fundamental rights,” the judge said.
“The harassment of the applicant in a matter already decided by the court is a violation of his rights, and the 1st to 3rd respondents exceeded their bounds.
“The case of the applicant succeeds, and the respondents are ordered to pay the sum of N10 million severally or jointly to the applicant for violation of his fundamental rights,” the judge ruled.
He also ordered the respondents to pay N2 million as a cost for the action.