Justice Sylvanus Oriji of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has dismissed a N120 million fundamental rights suit instituted by a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai against the Department of the State Services, DSS, and three others.
Justice Oriji in a judgment on Monday threw away the suit
for being without merit and substance.
The judge awarded N200,000 as cost to each of the
respondents to be paid to them by the former governor.
The court held that the letters of invitation by two Federal
Government agencies to El-Rufai to appear for investigation over allegations
against him met constitutional requirement and did not in anyway constitute
infringement on his fundamental rights.
Specifically, Justice Oriji said that both the Economic and
Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and
other related offences Commission, ICPC, did not violate the applicant's rights
with the letters inviting him to shed light on issues raised against him.
On whether the attempt to arrest the applicant at the Nnamdi
Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by the DSS (3rd respondent) violated his
rights, the court upheld the security agency's submission that it had statutory
mandate to maintain watchlist action and arrest persons of interest.
The court further held that El-Rufai cannot use the court to
stop the agencies from performing their duties.
Justice Oriji discountenanced El-Rufai's argument that there
was no warrant for his attempted arrest and ruled that the DSS had inherent
powers of the police pursuant to SSS instrument and the NSA Act.
On whether the seizure of El-Rufai's international passport
by the DSS was a violation of his rights, the court held that it was satisfied
that the seizure was lawful, and made pursuant to the powers of the DSS, and
thus the applicant (El-Rufai) had failed to adduce evidence showing that the
seizure was continuous, permanent and unlawful.
While dismissing the entire suit for lacking in merit, the
court awarded N200,000 to each of the four respondents including the Attorney
General of the Federation, AGF, and Minister of Justice.
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