Human rights lawyer, Mazi Osigwe, on Thursday, initiated a contempt proceeding against the Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, in an FCT High Court.
Mazi initiated the proceeding on behalf of his client, Mr Wolgang Reini, an Australian Security consultant, for alleged disobedience to court order.
He urged the court to compel Magu to show cause why he should not be committed to prison.
The charge followed EFCC’s refusal to obey orders issued by Justice Peter Affen in respect of Reini’s unlawful arrest and detention.
Affen had ordered the EFCC to immediately release the International Passport, Cheque books, cell phones of the applicant.
The court also directed that the property of the plaintiff, which were unlawfully confiscated from him since December 2015 be giving to him.
The judge ordered EFCC to pay the security expert N10 million as damages for his unlawful detention from Dec. 28, 2015 to Feb. 5, 2016.
Mazi had prayed the court to declare that the applicant’s detention constituted a gross violation of his fundamental right to dignity as enshrined in Sections 34 and 35 of the 1999 Constitution.
The contempt charge read: “Take notice that the applicant will apply to this court for an order for your committal to prison for having disobey the order of this court as made by Justice Peter Affen on April 20, 2016.
“Requiring you to release forthwith the applicant international passport seized or confiscated in the wake of his arrest and detention and delist him from your watch list or No-Fly list.
“And also for your failure to obey the order of the court requiring you to pay the applicant the sum of N10 million as compensatory damages for the violation of his fundamental rights to dignity of human person and personal liberty.”
