The Federal High Court, Abuja has reversed the N2 million fine slammed on the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for allegedly refusing to release the seized international passport of Peter Odili, a former governor of Rivers State.
The presiding judge, Inyang Ekwo, had ordered the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami (SAN), to take disciplinary action against Jimoh Adamu, NIS counsel, for his handling of the case and awarded a N2 million fine in favour of Odili.
On Monday, however, Adamu told the court that Njideka Nwosu-Iheme, Odili’s daughter who is a serving judge of a federal capital territory (FCT) high court, collected the passport for her father on December 20, 2021, at the immigration headquarters in Abuja.
He said the NIS has filed an appeal challenging the decision of the high court which ordered the release of the passport. He added that the submissions made by Ifedayo Adedipe, Odili’s lead counsel, in previous courts sessions were misleading and caused him and his client a lot of embarrassment.
Ekwo, therefore, held that the order of the court has been obeyed, vacating the orders made on December 21, 2021, and January 21, 2022.
He adjourned the matter till May 25 for a report on the court of appeal proceedings.
Dear readers, we really need your support to keep on serving you with authoritative, truthful, and juicy stories everyday. For your support, please reach out to the editor @gavelinternational66@gmail.com