MARGARET EMEFIELE: FEDERAL HIGH COURT IN LAGOS INVALIDATES ORDER DECLARING MRS EMEFIELE WANTED.
The Federal High Court in Lagos, Presided over by Hon
Justice D.I. Dipeolu on Friday June 28, 2024 declared as NULL AND VOID, a recent publication by the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission, declaring Mrs Margaret Emefiele (Applicant) wanted. In a suit No:
FHC/L/CS/262/2024 filed by Mrs Emefiele on February 12*h, 2024, the applicant prayed the court for the
following :
1 Adeclaration that the applicant is entitled to the
protection other fundamental rights to life, personal liberty, right to dignity of her person, freedom of movement and right to security as guaranteed under Sections 33,34, and 41 of the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria(as amended) and Articles 4,5,6 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and enforcement) Act ( Cap A9) Vol 1 Laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2011.
2 Adeclaration that the publication of the Applicant’s name and photograph on the website of the EFCC (the Respondents) as having been declared WANTED without any formal invitation extended to her and without any valid charge and or a court order to the effect amounts to a violation of the applicant’s fundamental right to the dignity of her person, rights
to personal liberty, freedom of movement and right to security as guaranteed under Sections 34,35,and 41 of the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and Articles 5,6,and 12 of the African Charter on Human and peoples’ rights (ratification and enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Vol 1 Law of the Federation of Nigeria, 2011.
3 Adeclaration that the publication of the applicant’s
name and photograph on the website of the Second respondents as having been declared WANTED without any formal invitation extended to her and
without any valid charge or court order to that effect, and which resulted to various negative comments of
threats on the applicant, amounts to a likely breach of her rights to life as guaranteed under Section 33 of
the 199 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and Article 4 of the African
Charter on Human and peoples’ rights (ratification and enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Vol 1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2011
4 Adeclaration that the publication of the applicant’s name and photograph on the website of the Second Respondent as having been declared WANTED without any court order to that effect, is unlawful. Illegal, and liable to be set aside.
5 An order setting aside the publication the publication of the applicant’s name and photograph on the website of the second respondent as one of the persons wanted by the respondents.
6 An order directing the respondent to immediately withdraw the publication of the applicant’s name and photograph from the list of persons wanted by the respondents on its website
7 An order, directing the respondents to issue a public apology to the applicant vide two national Television
Stations and 3 national dailies to wit – This day newspaper, The Punch Newspaper and the Nation Newspaper.
8 Damages against the respondents, jointly and severally, in the sum of N250 million in favour of thr applicant for the violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights.
In summary of the applicant’s case before the court is that she is a law-abiding citizen of Nigeria who has never been invited by the respondents in connection with any allegation. That there is no criminal charge filed against her that is pending before any competent courts of law in Nigeria. That her attention was drawn to certain publications of the respondents on its websites wherein she, and other 3 persons were declared wanted. That as at 17.06pm on the 11th February 2024, the Xhandle (formerly Tweeter) which has over 2.1 million followers, the said publication has been viewed by over 98,800 persons and reposted 455 times. that the publication
generated a lot of concerns and have caused several persons to call her and reach out to her. That the publication of the second respondent’s website
declaring her wanted without any invitation, charge or
court order gave the impression that she was evading earlier invitation from the Law. That the said publication by the second respondents was published on several on line newspaper platforms and have generated negative comments against her person, portraying her as a person evading justice. That since the publication of the second respondents which was read globally, she and her children have been depressed and can no longer move freely as they now fear for their lives and the security of their home. That since the publication she feels unsafe to move around and attend to her regular activities, to avoid members of the public from obstructing her and embarrassing her in guise of complying with the publication made by the respondents to apprehend her and hand her over to them. That the conduct of the respondents amounts to
a gross violation of her fundamental rights.
In its judgement, the learned Justice D. I . Dipeolu granted in favour of the applicant as follows:
1 That the applicant is entitled to the protection of her
Fundamental Rights to Life, personal Liberty, Rights to dignity of her person, Freedom of Movement and
rights to security as guaranteed under Sections 33,34, 35 and 41 of the 1999 constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria,( as amended) and Articles 4,5,6 and 12 of the African Charter on human and peoples’
rights (ratification and enforcement) Act (Cap A9 )Vol
1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2011.
2 That the publication of the applicant’s name and
photograph on the website of the second
respondents as having been declared WANTED
without complying with the provisions of Sections 41
and 42 of the ACJA, 2015 and without any valid charge and or a court order to that effect amounts to
a violation of the applicant’s fundamental rights to
the dignity of her person, rights to personal liberty, freedom of movements and right to security as guaranteed under Sections 34,35 and 41 of the 1999
constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended) and Articles 4,6,and 12 of the African Charter on Human and people’s rights (ratification and enforcement) act(Cap A9) Vol 1 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2011.
3 Reliefs 3,4, and 5 are subsumed in the reliefs 2.
4 The respondent is directed to immediately withdraw
the publication of the applicant’s name and photographs from the list of persons wanted by the respondents on its websites
5 The respondents is directed to issue a public apology to the applicant on its websites where the name and photograph of the applicant was published among the list of persons wanted.
6 The sum of N3 million only is awarded against the respondents jointly and severally in favour of the applicant for the violation of her fundamental rights.
