Court rejects Emefiele brothers’ lawsuits against AGF and DSS

On Wednesday, a Federal Capital Territory High Court dismissed two separate lawsuits brought by two siblings of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) suspended Governor Godwin Emefiele that were brought against the AGF and the DSS for violating fundamental rights.

The two brothers, George and Okanta Emefiele, sued the two defendants, requesting a court order to uphold their fundamental rights, including the freedom of travel.

They had separately approached the court, requesting, among other reliefs, its order of perpetual injunction prohibiting the secret police from inviting, intimidating, harassing, and arresting or detaining them in relation to “matters or body of matters which relates to the ongoing investigation of Mr. Godwin Emefiele and/or matters outside the constitutional and statutory mandate of the 1st respondent (DSS)”.

The DSS and AGF were joined as respondents by the applicants in the two distinct cases.

Grace Ehusani, the applicant’s attorney, told the court during the cases’ resumed hearing on Wednesday that the applicant’s had separately filed notice of the case’s discontinuance, though she did not provide any explanations.

Ibrahim Awo, the DSS’s attorney, did not object to the application but urged the court to dismiss the matter rather than strike it out as the petitioners’ attorney had sought.

Then he demanded a hefty cost of N2 million against the petitioners and in favour of the respondents.

In her request for a N2 million cost, Maimuma Lami-Sheru, the AGF’s attorney, aligned herself with the DSS attorney’s position.

The applications were dismissed and no costs were to be paid by the applicants, according to Justice Emmanuel Okpe, a vacation judge, in his bench decision.