Court Orders EFCC To Pay Photographer N5m For Defamation

The Federal High Court, Abuja, has awarded N5million damages against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for wrongfully parading a photographer, Nasiru Saidu-Ali, popularly known as Kozzo, as a fraudster.
The incident happened in May 2019 when the photographer was arrested from his Abuja home and his photos splashed on the social media pages of the EFCC alongside those of other alleged internet fraudsters.
He was later released after his innocence was established, but Sa’idu-Ali dragged the anti-graft agency to court for criminal defamation.
The photographer, through his lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, demanded N100million damages from the EFCC, but after five years, the court, in a judgment delivered on March 22, 2024, by Justice John Okorowo, awarded a N5million damages against the EFCC and ordered the anti-graft agency to tender a public apology to the photographer.
Details of the court judgment was revealed in a Certified True Copy obtained by The Tide’s source, yesterday.
The CTC read in part, “An order of mandatory injunction is hereby granted, ordering the respondent, whether by themselves, their officers, servants or agents to forthwith remove the image and name holding out of the applicant as a fraudster to the public from the respondents’ Instagram and other social media platform.
“An order of mandatory injunction is hereby granted restraining the respondent, whether by themselves, their officers, servants, or agents from further holding out the applicant as a fraudster to the public without judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction.
“An order of this honourable court is hereby granted directing the respondent to pay the applicant the sum of N2.5m as exemplary and punitive damages for the unlawful publication of the applicant’s image on the respondent’s Instagram, amounting to a breach of his fundamental rights to privacy.
“An order of this honourable court is hereby granted directing the respondent to pay the applicant N2.5m as general damages for loss suffered herein, amounting to a breach of his fundamental rights.
“An order of this honourable court is hereby granted directing that the respondents tender public apology on their online social media platforms to the applicant.”
Meanwhile, following the judgment, the lawyer to the claimant, Pelumi Olajengbesi, reiterated that it was unlawful and amounted to an abuse of powers for the EFCC to have publicised the images of individuals arrested for alleged crimes when such persons have not been convicted by the court.
He was happy that the court awarded ¦ 5million in exemplary, punitive, and general damages against the EFCC for defaming his client and violating his fundamental human rights.