An authorization has been granted by the Federal High Court in Abuja to issue contempt notices against the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Olayemi Cardoso, and the Director of Legal Services Department, Salam-Alada Kofo. This is due to their alleged failure to comply with a court order issued by Justice Inyang Ekwo.
On February 22, a garnishee order absolute was made by Justice Ekwo directing the Central Bank to pay a judgment debt of N63.7 million and $10,000. The judgment was awarded against the federal government for the unlawful arrest and detention of a German national, Martin Gegenheimer, by the Nigerian Immigration Service.
The notices, known as Form 49, require Cardoso and Kofo to provide reasons why they should not face committal for their actions. The court has specifically addressed this notice to the two CBN officials.
Cardoso and Kofo are directed to appear in court on a date that will be communicated to them. They are required to explain why they have failed to obey the court order.
The order absolute stemmed from a garnishee proceeding initiated by Gegenheimer to enforce a judgment of the ECOWAS Community Court. This judgment, delivered on March 4, 2021, awarded N63.7 million and $10,000 in favor of Gegenheimer.
Justice Ekwo, in his ruling on February 22, instructed the CBN to deduct the judgment sum from the federal government’s funds to settle the debt. The court rejected CBN’s claim of foreign exchange deficits hindering the payment.
The judge affirmed that the ECOWAS Court’s judgments could be enforced by Nigerian courts and were not strictly considered as foreign judgments under the law.
Gegenheimer narrated his ordeal of being arrested and detained by the NIS during a business trip to Nigeria. He challenged his detention before the ECOWAS Court, which ruled in his favor and awarded him damages for losses incurred.
The ECOWAS court ordered Nigeria to pay N53,650,925 as special damages and an additional N10 million in general damages to Gegenheimer. The Nigerian government was also directed to release his seized passport and remove him from the watch list.