There was a mild drama on Tuesday at the Enugu
Headquarters of the United Bank for Africa as bailiffs from the Federal
High Court; Enugu stormed the bank at Station Road in Okpara Avenue,
with policemen to enforce a court judgment against the bank.
As soon as the court bailiffs announced that they were in the bank to
take it over, members of staff of the bank and customers rushed out to
remove their vehicles and other belongings on the bank premises to avoid
being trapped.
After
the bailiffs locked all the entrances to the banking hall and the three
gates leading to its premises, they wrote an inscription with red paint
on the wall of the complex. It read, “Possession taken by Court Order
FHC/EN/M/339/2010.”
One
of the bailiffs, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of
anonymity, said they were in the bank to enforce the judgment of the
Federal High Court sitting in Enugu, delivered sometimes in 2012.
The judgment, he said, awarded N5m against the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission and UBA for violating the human right of one Eric
Emeka Onoh, a security staff of the bank who was allegedly stripped
naked inside the banking hall.
The
judgment, which our correspondent obtained on Tuesday, was delivered by
Justice Dorothy Agishi in the EFCC and UBA vs Eric Emeka Onoh suit
Number FHC/EN/M/339/2010.
Onoh
had through his lawyer, Awforkansi Nnadiume, sought the relief of the
court on whether he (the applicant) had any right that was protected by
the Nigerian constitution.
He
also asked the court to determine whether the right was infringed upon
by the respondents, and if the court agreed that this right was
infringed upon by the respondents, it should decide whether the
applicant was entitled to the N1bn damage he was demanding from the
defendants.
The
applicant sought an order for the reopening of his account at Diamond
Bank which the EFCC arbitrarily frozen. In the application, Onoh asked
the court to declare that the torture he was subjected to by the EFCC on
mere suspicion breached his fundamental rights.
But in her judgment, the court held that the applicant (Onoh) had his
legal right protected by law after she analysed the submissions of both
the applicant and respondents.
The
court found that the right of the applicant was infringed upon by all
the respondents because the applicant gave the graphic details the roles
played by each of the respondents in traumatising him.
The
court noted that the respondents did not deny all the allegations made
by the applicant in their submissions. The court also awarded N5m
compensation against the respondents jointly and severally and further
ordered that the applicant’s account frozen in Diamond Bank be reopened.
Justice
Agishi, however, regretted the non-inclusion of the police in the
matter. However, the enforcement order is coming after the Appeal Court
sitting in Enugu had dismissed the UBA appeal which seeks to set aside
the judgment of the Federal High Court.
When contacted on the telephone, the bank’s Branch Manager, Mr Philip
Otuu, confirmed the incident. He, however, denied the sealing of the
bank head office, saying that “what happened is that the court came to
execute judgment order and it is a normal thing and we have settled with
the court.”
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