A Federal High Court in Lagos on Thursday, April 3, has restrained the Nigeria Police and the Department of State Services from arresting or harassing the suspended governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, ordered the DSS to release Lamido Sanusi’s passport and award him N50m in exemplary damages.
Sanusi’s passport was seized on February 20 when he arrived at the Lagos international airport, hours after he had been suspended by President Goodluck Jonathan over allegations of "financial recklessness".
The CBN ex-governor, in separate suits, challenged his suspension and asked the court to restrain the police and the SSS from arresting, detaining or otherwise harassing him in the end of February.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Ibrahim Buba dismissed a preliminary objection filed by Fabian Ajogwu (SAN) on behalf of the AGF, challenging the jurisdiction of the court to hear the suit.
Ajogwu had argued that the suit was wrongly instituted before the Federal High court, since the matter bordered on the employment of the applicant, and so, should be within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court.
Buba, however, held that the applicant had brought the suit under the provisions of Chapter 4 of the Constitution seeking an enforcement of his rights, and so, is not a dispute relating to his terms of employment.
"The averment by respondent that the matter is labour related is far from the truth; the first respondent is trying to set up another case for the applicant; It is a case of 'shifting the goal post' and making a case for the applicant. The facts deposed in the applicant’s originating summons and his affidavit, speaks for itself; it is a suit for enforcement of his fundamental right which is recognisable by the federal high court," Buba said.
Announcing the judgement on the main suit, the court held that from the totality of averments in the applicant’s originating summons, the respondents had failed to answer all the questions raised.
It stated that the SSS and the AGF had presented conflicting averments in their counter affidavits, which shows that they are not on the same page on the issue, and had acted in bad faith.
"This court believes that the action of the respondents in this suit, deserves condemnation and exemplary damages."
The averment of the police was said to be frugal, as the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) stated that his agency had not been briefed by anyone to investigate or arrest Sanusi.
"This court has no doubt that the applicant has made out his case against the respondents, and so, resolves all the issues in favour of the applicant; for the avoidance of doubt, the court makes the following declaratory order:
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"A declaration that the first respondent acting through the officers of the third respondent or its privies, does not have any power to forcefully withdraw and keep the passport of the applicant for any reason whatsoever.
"A declaration that the respondent do not have any power to forcefully withdraw and seize the passport of the applicant, without compliance with section 5 (1) of the Passport Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2004.
"A declaration that the forceful seizure and detention of applicant’s passport, is an unlawful violation of his right to freedom of movement, enshrined in section 35 of the 1999 Constitution and article 12 of the Charter on Human and Peoples Right Act.
"A declaration that the conduct of respondent acting through the officers of the SSS, in forcefully arresting the applicant without due allegation or suspicion of a crime, is an unlawful violation of his right to personal liberty.
"An order of this court is hereby made restraining the respondent, their agents, privies or any other law enforcement agency of the respondents, from further interfering, harassing or infringing on the personal liberty of the applicant.
"An order for immediate release to the applicant of his international passport forcefully withdrawn and seized on Feb. 20, is hereby made.
"An exemplary damages against the respondents jointly and severally is also awarded, in the sum of N50 million only.
"An order is also made, directing the respondent to make a public apology to the applicant for unlawful arrest, detention and harassment," Justice Buba held.
Conflicting claims
During the hearing of the rights’ suit on March 31, Monday, the respondents – the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF) the Police, and the SSS – made different claims.
The agency SSS accused Sanusi of financing terrorism, which the ex-governor denied.
The SSS counsel, Moses Idakwo, said Sanusi’s interaction with SSS officials lasted less than an hour and did not constitute a violation of his rights.
He also said that the provisions of Section 6 of the National Security Agencies’ Act empowered the SSS to impound the international passport of suspects pending the conclusion of investigations.
It is not clear how this fresh allegation by the SSS is related to the dubious claims by Reno Omokri, the Special Assistant to the president.
A journalist investigation had exposed how Omokri, using a non-existent alias, Wendell Simlin, created a document linking Sanusi with financing the terrorist Boko Haram group.
Sanusi’s counsel, Kola Awodehin, accused the SSS of falsehood in its new claim against the bank chief, saying the agency had no shred of evidence.
The counsel to the AGF, Fabian Ajogwu, had objected to the suit, urging the court to strike it out for want of jurisdiction.
He noted that the case before the court borders on the applicant’s employment, saying that labour-related cases are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the National Industrial Court, NIC.
Ajogwu also argued that the applicant should not, by the suit, seek to restrain the respondents from performing their constitutional duties.
In turn, the police said it was not investigating the former CBN chief at all. The counsel to the police, David Abuo, said nobody ever reported Sanusi to the police.
He, however supported Ajogwu's claim that the case should be struck out as, he said, it seeks to bar government agencies from performing their duties.
Sanusi's counsel Awodehin, however, opposed this argument saying that the court was vested with the jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
He argued that the suit had nothing to do with the terms of employment of the applicant or industrial relations, since it was not a case of the applicant against the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Awodehin also argued that the different submissions by the three respondents showed that laws were being violated in Sanusi’s treatment.
It will be recalled that Sanusi was suspended by Jonathan over allegations of misconduct of the Central Bank.The former CBN governor, however, rejected the claims against him, insisting he was removed for revealing corruption in Nigeria.
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/63577.html
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/63577.html
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