Description
This document covers Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/2537/2024 before Hon. Justice Aliyu Yunusa Shafa at the FCT High Court. The Applicant, High Chief Ikechi Emenike, brought an action against the EFCC following a forceful, early-morning raid on his Abuja residence. Operatives of the EFCC cut through fences, utilized a gas cylinder to break open kitchen doors, and forcefully entered the living quarters to arrest the Applicant and his wife. Crucially, this raid was executed despite an active interlocutory injunction from another court expressly restraining the EFCC from entering or invading the premises pending a determination on property rights.
The decision underscores the inviolability of a citizen’s home from arbitrary state intrusion. The court reaffirmed that under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution, the privacy of citizens’ homes is fiercely protected, and any derogation by law enforcement for crime prevention must strictly adhere to due process and enabling search laws. The court ruled that the Gestapo-style raid and subsequent detention without an informed offense constituted an illegal, unconstitutional resort to self-help by the agency. The court granted the privacy declarations, ordered the EFCC to publish an unreserved apology in two national newspapers, and evaluated the grounds for substantial human rights damages.
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