A Federal High Court in Lagos has voided a travel ban placed on businesswoman Seinye Lulu-Briggs by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
Justice Ayokunle Faji ordered the EFCC and NIS to pay the sum of N15 million to her, declaring the seizure of her passport as unlawful.
The judge ruled in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Lulu-Briggs who is the chief executive of Moni Pulo Limited and widow of late oil magnate, Olu Lulu-Briggs.
Faji dismissed the first respondent (NIS comptroller general) and second respondent’s (NIS) notice of preliminary objection and held that the originating processes were duly served on the respondents.
The court also dismissed the third respondent’s (EFCC) preliminary objection and held that the act of initiating two separate actions in Lagos and Abuja on the basis that the infringement took place in Lagos and Abuja amounted to an abuse of court process.
He said, “The travel ban on the applicants by the first and second respondents by way of a watchlist is a violation of the applicant’s right to fair hearing as she was not allowed to make representations before she was placed on the said travel ban.”
Justice Faji ruled that each of the respondents should publish an apology to Lulu-Briggs in two national newspapers.
