The Federal High Court in Abuja on Thursday awarded the sum of N12.5m as damages in favour of Peace Corps of Nigeria, its National Commandant, Dickson Akor, and 48 other members over the invasion of their headquarters in Abuja on February 28, 2017.
In his judgment delivered in the fundamental human rights enforcement suit filed by the 50 plaintiffs, Justice Gabriel Kolawole also ordered the police to immediately unseal the group’s headquarters at 57, Iya Abubakar Crescent, Off Alex Ekwueme Way, Opposite Jabi Lake, Jabi, Abuja.
Another judge of the Federal High Court in Abuja, where Peace Corps and Akor are being prosecuted on fraud and money laundering charges, had on Wednesday adjourned until January 15, 2018 the ruling on the application by the two defendants seeking an order directing the police to unseal the office in Abuja.
The prosecution had also on Wednesday applied to Justice Tsoho for leave to substitute the 90 counts preferred against the defendants with the amended 13 counts.
The Office of the Attorney General of the Federation had filed the original 90 counts against Akor and Peace Corps on March 13, 2017, barely a week after the defendants instituted their fundamental human rights enforcement suit before Justice Kolawole on March 8, 2017.
The respondents to the suit are the Nigeria Police; the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris; the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN); the National Security Adviser, Babagaba Monguno; Department of State Services; and its Director General, Mr. Lawal Daura.
The 50 plaintiffs, in their suit before Justice Kolawole, had sought, among others, an order awarding N2bn to them as damages over the invasion of their headquarters and the alleged brutal attack on them by the police on the day the office was inaugurated on February 28, 2017.
They also attached to their suit as exhibits the various judgments they had in the past obtained against the respondents but were not obeyed.
In his judgment on Thursday, Justice Kolawole noted that the 90 counts instituted against the defendants were aimed at shielding the respondents, including the police and the AGF, from the plaintiffs’ suit.
The judge held that the police had no business sealing off the premises of the Peace Corps because the allegation that the group was operating a military or paramilitary outfit was not substantiated by the police.
The judge added that none of the 90 counts instituted by the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation against Peace Corps and Akor barely a week after they instituted their fundamental human rights enforcement suit included the allegation.
The judge held, “I have seen the criminal charge filed before the Federal High Court and which has 90 counts and the counts relate to offences bordering on money laundering and advance fee fraud.
“There is no count in the information which has anything to do with running a military or paramilitary outfit.
“This allegation was itself found on the strength of an unproduced and unsubstantiated intelligence report.
“It is my view that if the allegation of the invasion of the first applicant’s (Peace Corps’) new office in the context of exhibits AA and NPF2 … the 1st and 2nd defendants (police and IGP) have no business to seal off the first applicant’s premises at 57, Iya Abubakar Crescent, Opposite Jabi Lake, Jabi, FCT, Abuja because none of the 90 counts produced as Exhibit AA or NPF2 has any direct or remote link to the said property.
“None of the counts, even if proved at the trial, is linked with acquisition either by way of lease or outright purchase of the said property at 57, Iya Abubakar Crescent, Off Alex Ekwueme Way, Opposite Jabi Lake, Jabi, Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.”
He also ruled that the two defendants were only charged with money laundering and advance fee fraud, which, if even proved, would not attract the forfeiture of the property as punishment.
“I am not aware … that in the event that the criminal information filed on March 13, 2017, a week after the applicants instituted the instant action, succeeds that the punishment prescribed for money laundering and advance fee fraud is the forfeiture of the said property which the respondents have not linked as proceeds of alleged criminal extortions in the indictment in the said charge.”
The judge held that Peace Corps, being a body registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission, “has the right to acquire movable and immovable property which shall not be sealed or taken away from them except in accordance with the due process of the law as encapsulated in section 43 and 44 of the 1999 Constitution.”
In ordering the police to immediately unseal the property, the court ordered that workers and members of the group must no longer be denied right of access into and out of the office.
He ruled, “Relief 6 ought to succeed in view of the success of relief 3 which has been granted.
“…The respondents and in particular, the 1st and 2nd respondents, shall forthwith unseal the 1st applicant’s office at 57, Iya Abubakar Crescent, Off Alex Ekwueme Way, Opposite Jabi Lake, Jabi, FCT, Abuja and shall cease to prohibit, in any manner, the applicants’ workers and members the right of access into and out of the said premises from today (Thursday).”
Although, the plaintiffs prayed for N2bn as damages, the judge slashed it down to N12.5m, explaining that the essence of awarding such damages was not to make a successful plaintiff a multi-millionaire or a billionaire.
He ruled, “I am of the view that the applicants are entitled to general damages. The award of damages, either special or general damages, is an equitable remedy through which the court exercises it disciplinary powers.
“The award of damages in a suit such as this against state actors or institutions such as the respondents must take into account the level and duration of the infraction complained of and of the available resources of the government.
“Nigeria has been in economic recession and was only getting out of the woods this year.
“When I look at the entire facts in this suit, I am satisfied to assess the general damages against the respondents at N12.5m.
“The said general damages is awarded against the 1st and 2nd respondents who I have adjudged based on my assessment of the facts as the real antagonists to the legal existence and actions of the first applicant.”
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