The FCT High Court on Monday awarded N100 million in damages to Godwin Emefiele, the suspended former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) against the Federal Government and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for violations of his rights.
The court, presided over by Justice Olukayode Adeniyi, said the respondent, in defiance of several valid subsisting court orders for Emefiele’s release, amounts to a grave violation of his fundamental rights to life and personal liberty, as guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (as amended) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The embattled Emefiele had taken the Federal Government, the Attorney-General of the Federation and EFCC to court to enforce his fundamental rights to life, personal liberty, fair hearing, and freedom of movement.
The former CBN governor sought a declaration from the court that his continued detention by the agency of the first and second respondents since June 10, 2023, and subsequent transfer to the custody of the third and fourth respondents on October 26, 2023, without being arraigned in court is unlawful.
He also sought an injunction restraining the respondents from further arresting and/or further detaining him on his release by the court without presenting a criminal charge against him.
He also sought damages in the amount of N1 billion in his favour for the violation of his fundamental rights.