Justice Inyang Eden Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja
on Wednesday imposed a fine of N5 million against the Nigeria Police Force over
the reckless use of statutory power against a Nigerian citizen.
The amount is to be paid to an Abuja based investor,
Hyacinth Soonen Abera, whose bank account with Zenith Bank was frozen for
several months by police while acting as a debt collector without an order of
the court.
Justice Ekwo, apart from ordering the police to pay the fine
of N5 million as compensation and exemplary damages to the victim of the
reckless use of statutory power, also ordered Zenith Bank to immediately
unfreeze the account with number 1006911956.
In a judgment in a fundamental rights enforcement suit
instituted against four defendants, the judge held that the police acted ultra
vires by acting as a debt collector in a purely commercial transaction between
two parties.
The four defendants are Oludele Aderibigbe, DSP Yomi Musa,
Inspector General of Police IGP and the Nigeria Police Force NPF as 1st to 4th
defendants respectively.
The judge held that it was wrong of the police to have
subjected the plaintiff to a series of threats of arrest and detention in a
simple pure commercial transaction and placing restriction orders on his bank
account without any recourse to the rule of law.
The plaintiff had sued the defendants claiming that his
fundamental rights to freedom of liberty and human dignity were violated and
breached by police with persistent threats of arrest and detention on the
instigation of the first defendant and the subsequent freezing order placed on
his Zenith Bank account.
He claimed, among others, that the first defendant entered
into an agreement with his company, Hysolat Limited to build a four-bedroom
house for him in the Durumi area of Abuja at a cost of N30 million to be paid
in instalments within 11 months.
He claimed that at the end of the 11 months when N30 million
ought to have been fully paid, only a paltry sum of N5 million was paid
prompting the termination of the contract.
He further claimed that rather than looking for remedy, the
1st defendant resorted to the use of police against him and that without
hearing from him, the police caused Zenith Bank to freeze his bank account
without any order of court.
The plaintiff averred that he and his family were subjected
to untold hardships especially hunger due to unlawful freezing of his account
and demanded N50 million compensation in addition to order of court to unfreeze
the account.
Justice Ekwo in the judgment agreed that police acted
outside the 1999 Constitution and Police Act in turning itself into a debt
collector in a commercial transaction and in carrying out bank account freezing
without court order.
The judge subsequently ordered the police to pay the
plaintiff N5 million and Zenith Bank immediately unfreeze the account.
A purported order of an Abuja Magistrate Court to police to
investigate the plaintiff was voided and set aside on the ground that the
magistrate court has no jurisdiction in the matter since it was not a landlord
and tenant issue.
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