The Federal Government has failed to obey the judgment of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court of justice order to release the passport of a German national, Martin Gegenheimer.
The passport was illegally seized by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) officials in Lagos, on February 23, 2020.
Gegenheimer, a professional aviator was arrested at the boarding gate of Kenya Airways while leaving for Nairobi on February 24, 2020.
Officials of the NIS were said to have stopped the German from leaving the country over allegations of using a forged Nigerian passport belonging to one Tanimu Aisha to enter Nigeria in 2016, an assertion that he rejected, arguing that he could not have used the said passport which was reportedly issued in 2018.
He was detained by NIS and his German passport with the number C93X6C4L6 was seized. He consequently dragged the federal government and NIS to court through his lawyer, Daniel Makolo.
The ECOWAS court presided over by Justice Edward Asante and supported by justices Dupe Atoki and Januaria Costa, in their ruling, said the NIS action was illegal, noting that the service was unable to present any legal basis for Gegenheimer’s arbitrary arrest and detention.
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Apart from directing the speedy release of the applicant’s passport, the court in its judgment delivered March 4, also ordered the government to pay the applicant N53 million for hotel accommodation from March 2020 to February 2021; N10m as general damages and another $10m spent on securing bail.
The comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, has also failed to remove the plaintiff’s name from the watch-list as ordered by the court.
Following the foot-dragging on the judgment, Makolo has sent a letter to the Ministry of Justice demanding compliance to the court order.
In the letter to the attorney-general of the Federation, Abubakar Malami dated May 5, 2021; Makolo said his client’s claims were contested at the ECOWAS court for months by the AGF before the judgment was finally delivered in Gegenheimer’s favour.
He said the applicant’s sufferings were being worsened by the failure of the AGF to put on ‘the human nature of your office.’
“We are yet to receive your compliance measures with the judgment. The justice of the case demands an urgent response from your office for restitution for our client by the quickest means possible.
“Honourable Minister of Justice, kindly ensure that our client’s German passport is delivered to our office or to us through the ECOWAS Court Registrar immediately to enable him to travel to join his family with his name removed from the watch-list. His unlawful incarceration in Nigeria is pronounced as such by the ECOWAS Court and this wrong at the instance of the Nigeria Immigration Service officials whose proven desire for graft is insatiable,’’ the letter read in part.
Responding on behalf of the minister of justice, the acting director, Civil Litigation and Public Law, Maimuna Shiru, explained that the judgment has been forwarded to the NIS for necessary action.
