The Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos has ordered the release of Miss Oluwateniola Omidiji, a student at Babcock University, who was detained by the EFCC because of her widowed mother’s debt, Mrs. Omoniyi Omidiji.
According to Miss Omidiji’s lawsuit (FHC/L/CS/759/224), EFCC operatives kidnapped her for an unspecified amount that her mother supposedly owed to Mr Charles Nwoko.
Nwoko said he invested the sum of N100,000,000 into Mrs Omidiji’s business sometime in 2020 coming after Oluwateniola for the sum and the interest since her mother, his joint venture partner, is out of Nigeria.
Her attorney, Emeka Chijioke SAN of Auxano Law Chambers, petitioned Justice Y. Bogoro to uphold her basic human rights, and the judge granted her request. The 19-year-old Oluwateniola has already spent eleven days in EFCC custody.
The judge said: “I have considered the ex-parte application, the extant laws under which the application is brought, and the affidavit supporting the application. I hereby grant the reliefs sought.”
EFCC operatives arrested the third year from her school’s premises on April 26, 2024.
Following this, she was taken into custody and has since been held in the agency’s detention facility in Ikoyi, Lagos. On Friday, May 3, 2024, Justice Bogoro issued his order.
The EFCC found out during their investigation that Mrs Omidiji reportedly used a company named Elisto Global Services Limited to acquire the money from Mr Nwoko. The company had four directors.
They are the Applicant’s mother; the alleged creditor, Mr. Nwoko; the Applicant’s brother, and the Applicant.
Oluwateniola had cried out to the Court for relief after her school was stormed last Friday by EFCC operatives while she was writing exams. They laid siege to the school and took her away.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) allegedly argued that 19-year-old Oluwateniola should answer for her mother’s alleged wrongdoings in the joint venture with Mr Nwoko as she was identified as a director of Elisto by her mother.
Oluwateniola has been detained at EFCC’s facility at Ikoyi until EFCC gets her mother’s attention while other students have since continued with their exams.
In an appeal to enforce her fundamental rights, Oluwateniola’s counsel Chijioke Emeka, SAN of Auxano Law, argues that Oluwateniola had no knowledge of her mother’s business with Mr. Nwoko since she was only 16 years old.
She contends that it is wrong for the EFCC to hold her hostage over a wrong alleged to have been done by her mother.
In addition, she argues that the deal is a civil problem and has urged the court to tell the EFCC to stay out of it and to pay her N10,000,000 in damages for infringing on her rights to personal liberty, human dignity, a fair hearing, and freedom of movement.
A new hearing on the case has been postponed until May 21, 2024, by Justice Bogoro.
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