For unlawfully detaining one Mr. Adewale Adeniyi, an administrative manager with Rana Prestige Industries Nigeria Limited, over allegations of fraud, a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Tuesday awarded the total sum of N17 million against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and five others as damages to Adeniyi.
The five others are Mrs. Rachadatou Abdou, the owner of the company and Mrs. Alice Bulus who are also respondents in the case, as well as the Director of the company, Gnanhoue Nazaire, the General Manager, Senou Modeste, and the company’s secretary, Ferdinand Egede who are defendants in the case.
While the EFCC is to pay N10 million, the two respondents would pay five million while the other three joined as defenders, would pay 2 million.
In his argument, Adeniyi, who was represented by Chief Rickey Tarfa (SAN), had argued that he was illegally detained amounting to a breach of his fundamental human rights as enshrined in section 35 of the Constitution and as a result, demanded for N30m compensation for general, exemplary and aggravated damages.
He also demanded for N10m as the cost of filing the suit.
But Justice Yunusa only awarded N17 million of the cost in favour of Adeniyi.
However, in his ruling, Justice Mohammed Yunusa, who presided over the case, noted that the detention was illegal as it went beyond the legally postulated period for a suspect to be detained.
According to the judge, the EFCC had abused its power by detaining Adeniyi for over 48 hours against Section 35 of the 1999 Constitution which prevents security agencies from misusing their powers over citizens, whose rights they are meant to protect.
The judge also berated the EFCC for not properly investigating the issue before they arrested people like Adeniyi.
According to the judge, there is no evidence that there was a preliminary investigation into allegations against Adeniyi before the arrest.
“No order of court authorising the arrest was exhibited before the court.
“The respondents acted irrationally without following due process,” the judge said advising security operatives in Nigeria to always exercise restraint at all times instead of allowing themselves to become slaves to power.