Court awards German illegally detained by NIS N63.7m, $10,000

The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria to pay a German, Martin Gegenheimer, the sums of N63.7m and $10,000 awarded in his favour by the ECOWAS Court in a suit marked ECW/CCJ/APP/23/2020.

The German obtained the monetary judgment against the Federal Government over what he described as his illegal arrest and detention by the Nigerian Immigration Service in 2020 during the COVID-19 period.

He told the ECOWAS Court that the Nigerian Immigration seized his passport, and detained him in an overcrowded facility between February 23, 2020, and March 4, 2020, in total disregard for the COVID-19 protocol.

He said he was denied decent food and medical care.

He contended that he was not informed of any justifiable reason recognised by law for his arrest and detention, and neither was a warrant of arrest nor a court order produced as the basis for his humiliating experience.

The German alleged that he was not afforded the opportunity of a fair hearing before any lawful authority or competent court until March 4, 2020, when an administrative bail was secured for him in the face of the pending COVID-19 lockdown in Abuja.

The ECOWAS Court on  March 4, 2021, entered judgment in Gegenheimer’s favour, declaring his arrest and detention illegal.

The regional court ordered the Nigerian government to pay him N53,650,925 as special damages for various losses suffered and costs incurred while under unlawful arrest and detention by the NIS.

The court also ordered the Nigerian government to pay him another N10m in general damages as reparation for all violations and moral prejudice suffered, and an additional $10,000 for the expenditure incurred by the applicant to secure his bail.

In a bid to get the Nigerian government to implement the judgment of the regional court, The German approached the Federal High Court in Abuja.

Ruling on the matter on Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered the CBN to deduct the amount from the Federal Government’s funds in its custody to settle the debt that arose from the ECOWAS Court of Justice.

Justice Ekwo rejected CBN’s claim that the Federal Government’s foreign exchange accounts were currently in deficit, making it impossible to pay the entire judgment sum.

Justice Ekwo held that as against the argument by the CBN, the ECOWAS Court’s judgments did not qualify as foreign judgments in the strict sense and could be enforced by Nigerian courts.

The judge said: “Upon a keen perusal of the provisions of the Foreign Judgments Reciprocal Enforcement  Act 2004, it cannot be said that the judgment sought to be enforced in this case is stricto sensu (in the strict sense) a foreign judgment.

“I agree with the learned counsel for the judgment creditor that by Article 15 of the Reviewed Treaty of ECOWAS, and Article 24 of the 2005 Supplementary Protocol (which amended the 1991 Protocol), the judgment of ECOWAS Court can be registered and enforced in Nigeria by this court without referring to it as a foreign judgment, in the same manner, that the judgment of any other court in Nigeria can be registered and enforced in this court.”

Justice Ekwo proceeded to make absolute the garnishee order nisi he earlier issued against the CBN.