The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was fined N1 million by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday, August 30, 2022 for its unauthorised entry into an Abuja-based corporation.
Early this year, EFCC officers forcibly entered the Fezel Nigeria Limited company, which is located at Plot 792, Cadastral Zone Industrial Estate, Idu-Abuja, without a valid reason.
In a ruling in a lawsuit brought against the EFCC, Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled that the anti-graft organisation had violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights by entering the company with fully armed officers.
The Judge ruled specifically that the EFCC had violated sections 36, 37, 40, 43, and 44 by shutting down the business without a valid reason.
The court thereafter issued an order of injunction prohibiting the EFCC, its officers, agents, and privies from upsetting, frightening, harassing, or detaining any staff members or employees of the company.
According to Justice Ekwo, the anti-graft agency’s actions amounted to a violation of the plaintiff’s right to property ownership as guaranteed by section 43 of the 1999 Constitution.
He then ordered the EFCC to pay the petitioner N1 million in damages for the constitutional rights that had been violated.
