In what could be seen as a move to entrench the rule of law in the country, a Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday ordered that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) pay the sum of N12.5 million as exemplary damages in favour of Senator Abdulaziz Nyako for unlawful frozen of his account and illegal detention.
Justice Gabriel Kolawole made the order while delivering judgment in the fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Nyako against the EFCC.
In the ruling, Kolawole held that the applicant, Senator Nyako, son of former Governor of Adamawa State, Admiral Murtala Nyako, was detained in the custody of the Commission in excess of the period prescribed by law.
He berated the anti-graft agency for what he described as “reckless tampering with the rights of citizens in the name of discharging its statutory duties.”
The court further held that by declaring the applicant wanted without evidence of crime amounted to a breach to his fundamental human rights.
Justice Kolawole accused the Commission of embarking on a judicial fiat which is unpardonable exhibition of ignorance of the law as the National Assembly never intended to give it the powers of an accuser and a judge.
