The Federal High Court in Abuja has given permission to file notices of contempt against Olayemi Cardoso, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Salam-Alada Kofo, the director of the Legal Services Department, for allegedly disobeying a court order.
The Central Bank was ordered to pay a judgment debt of N63.7 million and $10000 awarded against the federal government for the unlawful arrest and detention of a German, Martin Gegenheimer, by men of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). The ruling was made on February 22 by Justice Inyang Ekwo. It was claimed that they had disregarded this order.
Particularly addressed to Cardoso and Kofo are the notices (Form 49) that demand that they provide justification for why an order of committal should not be issued against them and that is signed by a court registrar.
The two top CBN officials are instructed to appear in court on a date that will be provided to them in the notice.
This court, having rendered its decision, made the order nisi dated February 14, 2023, order absolute against the garnishee (CBN) on February 22, 2024, according to a portion of the notice.
“Take notice that you are hereby required to attend the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja on the first mentioned day to show cause why an order for your committal should not be made after due services upon you of the orders and the notice of the consequence of the disobedient to the order of this honourable court.”
The two CBN officials were previously given notice of the consequences of their disobedience to the order (Form 48), which reminded them of what would happen to them if they continued to disobey the order.
The earlier notice reads in part: “The garnishee (CBN) deliberately failed, refused and or neglected to obey the order of this honourable court made against her more than 44 days after the order.
“This is far more than the timeline allowed by the Garnishee Charter for service to the public wherein: all issues of law touching and concerning the Garnishee ought to be resolved and or responded to within 10 days. The judgment creditor is yet to enjoy this provision.
“Unless you: Mr Olayemi Cardoso and Mr Salam-Alada Sirajuddin Kofo, the Governor and the Director Legal Services, CBN (the alter egos of the garnishee), obey, the order absolute made against the garnishee, (the CBN) on the 22nd day of February 2024, both of you will be in contempt of the Federal High Court order made against the garnishee, which you both control and direct its activities and you both will be liable to be committed to prison at the correctional centre of Nigeria.”
The judgment of the ECOWAS Community Court, delivered on March 4, 2021, in which Gegenheimer (via his attorney, Daniel Makolo) was granted N63.7 million and $10000, was the subject of a garnishee procedure in which the order absolute was made. The case is designated FHC/ABJ/NJR/M3/2022.
Justice Ekwo directed the CBN to deduct the judgment amount from federal government money under its custody in order to satisfy the judgment debt in the verdict dated February 22.
The CBN claimed that because the Fed Govt’s foreign exchange balances were currently negative, it would be difficult to pay the full judgment amount. However, Justice Ekwo dismissed this argument.
Justice Ekwo agreed with Makolo that, as against the contention by the CBN, the ECOWAS Court’s judgments do not qualify as foreign judgment in the strict sense of it and could be enforced by Nigerian courts.
The judge said: “Upon a keen perusal of the provisions of the Foreign Judgments Reciprocal Enforcement (FJRE) Act 2004 it cannot be said that the judgement sought to be enforced in this case, is stricto sensu (in the strict sense) a foreign judgement.
“I agree with the learned counsel for the judgement creditor (Makolo) that, by Article 15 of the Reviewed Treaty of ECOWAS, and Article 24 of the 2005 Supplementary Protocol (which amended the 1991 Protocol), the judgement of ECOWAS Court can be registered and enforced in Nigeria by this court without referring to it as a foreign judgement, in the same manner that the judgement of any other court in Nigeria can be registered and enforced in this court,” the judge said.
Judge Ekwo then went on and made the garnishee order nisi he had previously issued against the CBN absolute.
The German claimed to have traveled to Nigeria for business purposes, but on February 23, 2020, while returning to Kenya, he was halted at the Kenya Airways aircraft’s boarding gate by agents of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) after completing all required departure requirements.
Gegenheimer claimed that between February 23, 2020, and March 4, 2020, NIS agents arrested him, took his passport, and imprisoned him in a crammed detention cell without access to proper food or medical care—all in violation of COVID policy.
He subsequently challenged his arrest and detention before the ECOWAS Court, in a suit marked: ECW/CCJ/APP/23/2020.
A three-member sub-regional court panel led by Justice Edward Amoako Asante, the head of the court, ruled on March 4, 2021, that Gegenheimer’s arrest and incarceration were unlawful.
Th decided that N53,650,925 be paid to him as special damages by the Nigerian government in order to cover the fees and other losses he received during his wrongful arrest and incarceration by the NIS.
According to the court, the bulk of the accusations included hotel expenses the German was forced to pay while being detained against his will by agents of the Nigerian government.
The Nigerian government was subsequently ordered by the court to provide him an additional N10 million in general damages as compensation for all rights violations and moral harm caused by those violations, plus an extra $10,000 to cover the applicant’s bail-related costs.
The German national’s German passport was “arbitrarily and unlawfully” confiscated by Nigerian government agents. The ECOWAS court also ordered the Nigerian government to take the German off its watch list and to unconditionally and promptly return his passport.
