The Federal High Court in Abuja has warned Jimoh Adamu, a lawyer, to the Nigerian Immigration Service ((NIS) over his conduct in the suit concerning seizure of the international passport of Peter Odili, a former governor of Rivers State.
Officials of the immigration service had confiscated Mr Odili’s passport at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja upon his arrival from a trip to the United Kingdom on 20 June, 2021.
Following the seizure of the travelling document, Mr Odili, who said the reason for the seizure was not disclosed to him, sued the NIS and its Comptroller-General so as to retrieve his passport.
Delivering a judgement last October, the judge, Inyang Ekwo, ordered the NIS to immediately release Mr Odili’s passport.
But, in disobedience to the court’s orders, the NIS has held on to Mr Odili’s passport, prompting the former governor’s lawyer, Ifedayo Adedipe, to lodge post-judgement proceedings to reclaim his client’s passport.
At a post-judgement sitting on Friday, the court issued a stern warning to the NIS lawyer, Mr Adamu, asking him to appear in court to defend allegations of “unprofessional conduct” levelled against him.
Mr Ekwo gave Mr Adamu February 7 to unfailingly appear in court to show cause why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for flagrantly refusing to comply with the court’s orders that were made last October.
Mr Adamu’s absence from court on Friday was the second consecutive time, prompting the judge to issue what he termed “last warning” to the NIS lawyer to appear.
“This honourable court knows what to do and how to do it but in the interest of fair hearing, I am giving him another chance. Let him deny himself fair hearing, then, the court will take necessary steps,” Mr Ekwo said.
Earlier, Mr Odili’s lawyer, Mr Adedipe, recalled the order of last December, issued by the court that the Immigration’s lawyer must appear in court at the Friday session.
Mr Adedipe noted that Mr Adamu had failed to obey a subsisting order that the passport is deposited with the Registrar of the court pending the hearing of his motion for stay of execution.
He added that Mr Adamu had consistently failed to attend court despite being served with a hearing notice in relation to his pending motion.
Mr Adedipe urged the court to, among other things, sanction Mr Adamu for disrespecting the court.
Backstory
The former Rivers State governor said in his fundamental rights enforcement suit which he lodged against NIS and its comptroller-general that his passport was seized from him at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport in Abuja for undisclosed reasons.
He claimed the passport numbered B50031305 was seized from him on June 20 by NIS operatives upon his return to Nigeria from the United Kingdom where he had gone for medical treatment.
Mr Odili said his traveling documents were checked and returned to him, but while waiting for his luggage, an official of NIS demanded his passport for a routine check.
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According to the ex-governor, he gave the passport to the official who never returned it.
He claimed to be a law-abiding and senior Nigerian citizen with no record to warrant the seizure of the passport from him.
He prayed the court to compel the two respondents to release the passport to him and issue an order of perpetual injunction against the respondents “from further harrassing, embarrassing, intimidating or interfering with his fundamental right to freedom of movement.”
NIS defence
During the hearing of the suit, the NIS said in its defence that the former governor’s passport was seized based on a request of the EFCC.
The anti-graft agency had attempted to prosecute Mr Odili for corruption after he completed his second and final term as governor in 2007, but was barred by a judge of the Federal High Court, Ibrahim Bawa, who issued an order of perpetual injunction shielding him from trial.
The NIS, through its lawyer, Mr Adamu, tendered a letter by EFCC requesting NIS to seize the passport on the basis that the ex-governor was on a watch list.
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