A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed an application filed by David Ukpo Nwamini, seeking an order setting aside the July 1 and 6, 2022 orders for the release of his biodata to Senator Ike Ekweremadu in a UK court.
In his ruling yesterday, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that the applicant, the Edo Civil Society Organisation (EDOSCO), that filed the motion on Ukpo’s behalf, lacked the legal right to institute the case.
The Judge held that the provision of Article 3 (e) of the preamble to the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009 (FREPR 2009), under which EDOSCO filed the suit, cannot be said to have granted any person without legal personality to sue or be sued in the court.
On the averment of the counsel representing the applicant, Bamidele Uche Igbinedion Esq., that he is one of the lawyers in the law firm of Dele Igbinedion Chambers, and that the application was filed “to protect the applicant’s human rights upon being instructed by Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOSCO) on behalf of the applicant (Ukpo), Justice Ekwo said:
“Going by this averment, it is clear that the applicant in this case is Edo Civil Society Organisations (EDOSCO).
“The counsel for the applicant knows this but cleverly avoided to state so on the face of the application and rather depose, to this fact in the affidavit in support.”
EDOSCO had on behalf of Ukpo, filed the motion on notice brought pursuant to Orders 14 Rules 10, 26, Rules 1, and 2 (1), and 34, Rules 4, and 7 (2) (a) of the FHC (Civil Procedure) Rules 2019 (FHCCPR 2019); Sections 36 (1) and 37 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and under the inherent jurisdiction of the court.
The applicant sought an order setting aside the proceedings and the ruling delivered by the court on July 1, 2022 In suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2022.
He also sought an order setting aside the proceedings and the order of the court made on July 6, 2022.
He equally sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, and the 1st to 5th respondents, or any other person howsoever described, acting for the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), from further executing the July 2022 rulings delivered July 1 and 6, 2022.
Alternatively, the applicant prayed the court to bar them from further breaching Ukpo’s rights to privacy guaranteed by Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution.
But Ekweremadu and Beatrice, through their counsel, Chief Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN, urged the court to dismiss the application.
They argued that Ukpo, who was taken to the UK sometime in 2022, could not have briefed anyone as his whereabouts was unknown.
Besides, they argued that there was nothing before the court to show that the said minor (Ukpo) briefed EDOSCO.
Citing previous cases to back the argument, they submitted that those cases cited did not deal with a situation where a third party purportedly instructed a counsel to appear for them in a suit.
“In this case, the applicant on record did not instruct anyone but rather it was EDOSCO, a third party, that instructed counsel, as has been revealed in their affidavit in support, which is an issue before the court,” they said.
