A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has held that it is illegal for the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to declare Magaret, the wife of the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, as a wanted person.
Justice Deinde Dipeolu made the declaration while ruling on a fundamental right application filed by Mrs Emefiele.
The court also ordered the EFCC to pay her N3 million as damages for the infringement of her rights.
Mrs. Emefiele had dragged the anti-graft agency and its chairman before the court for declaring her a wanted person and publishing her photographs on its website without any valid court order.
In the suit, she asked the court to among other things, hold that the decision by the EFCC to add her name to its wanted persons list without any valid charge and or court order, amounted to a violation of her fundamental human right.
She also urged the court to order the EFCC to remove her name and photograph from the wanted persons’ list on its website and to apologise to her for the alleged rights infringement in two national television stations and three newspapers.
In the judgment which was delivered last week Friday, Justice Dipeolu agreed that it was illegal for the EFCC to have published the name and photograph of Mrs Emefiele on its website as a wanted person without complying with the provisions of Sections 41 and 42 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, (ACJA) 2015 and without any valid charge and/or a court order to that effect.
