Court Orders CBN to Pay NIS 63.7 Million to a German Arrested Illegally by NIS A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Central Bank o...

 Court Orders CBN to Pay NIS 63.7 Million to a German Arrested Illegally by NIS

A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to pay a German, Martin Gegenheimer, 63.7 million naira and 10,000 dollars for his illegal arrest and detention by the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS). .

In a judgment he gave on Thursday, Justice Inyang Ekwo, ordered the Central Bank of the country, CBN, to withdraw the money from the Federal Government's account in its hands, to settle the debt arising from the 2021 judgment of the court of judges. West African countries ECOWAS cut off Nigeria.

Justice Ekwo rejected the CBN's statement that the federal government's account is currently in deficit, which is why it is not possible to pay all the judgments.

The German, who said he visited Nigeria on a business trip, disclosed that on his way back to Kenya on February 23, 2020, he was stopped at the boarding gate by Nigerian immigration officials. Kenya Airways after completing all the flight rules.

He said the NIS officers arrested him, confiscated his passport and detained him in a crowded cell from February 23, 2020 to March 4, 2020, despite the existing COVID-19 regulations and should be taken care of.

Finally, he challenged his arrest and detention before the ECOWAS Court.

In a judgment dated March 4, 2021, a three-member panel of the court, led by the president of the court, Justice Edward Amoako Asante, declared Gegenheimer's arrest and detention as illegal.

The court ordered the Nigerian government to pay him N53,650,925 as special compensation for the losses and expenses he incurred during his illegal detention by the NIS.

The court also ordered the Nigerian government to pay him 10 million naira as compensation for all the crimes and injustices done to him in denying him his rights, as well as the additional 10,000 dollars he spent while seeking bail.

The ECOWAS Court has ordered the Nigerian government to remove the German from its watch list, and immediately release his German passport without any condition, which was illegally confiscated by Nigerian government officials.

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