Ukpo had prayed the court to grant an order or perpetual injunction, restraining Ekweremadu, his wife and all the respondents from executing or further executing the ruling.
By Deborah Hassan
365Daily – Immediate past Deputy President of the Senate, Ike Ekweremadu and his wife, Beatrice, have requested a Federal High Court in Abuja to throw out an application filed by David Ukpo, who had accused them of trafficking him to the United Kingdom for organ harvesting, which prayed the court to deny the duo access to his biodata.
The court had earlier ordered that the information should be released to the Ekweremadus, who are standing trial in the United Kingdom on human trafficking and organing harvesting charges.
Ukpo, Beatrice and Ike Ekweremadu are all in the United Kingdom.
Counsel to Ukpo, Bamidele Igbinedion, had filed a motion on notice before Justice Inyang Ekwo, argued that granting the couple’s request violated his fundamental rights to privacy guaranteed by Section 37 of 1999 Constitution (as amended).
However, a younger brother to one of the accused, Bright Ekweremadu, in a counter-affidavit, objected to Ukpo’s request on the grounds that he the law does not permit it.
Marked FHC/ABJ/CS/984/2022, the counter-affidavit was dated September 8, 2022 and filed by counsel to the accused, Adegboyega Awomolo, SAN.
In a 20-pont argument, Ekweremadu averred that though the court gave its ruling on July 1, Ukpo’s right to fair hearing was not breached.
He said that the documents which were released by the agencies and banks upon the orders of the court had have been transmitted to the UK and “tendered at the Uxbridge Magistrate Court, and at the Central Criminal Court in the UK and have subsequently formed part of the record of the courts.”
In addition, he stated: “I know as a fact that the documents which are already in evidence before those Honourable Courts in the United Kingdom cannot be retrieved by this Honourable Court.
“That the courts in the United Kingdom are already seised of the documents” and that he was in the last criminal proceeding where the documents were used.”
According to him, the documents were required to prove the actual age of Ukpo, who claimed to be 15 years of age but is well over 21 years of age.
Furthermore, he said if the applicant (Ukpo) declared his true age, he has nothing to fear and the document would prove him right.
He continued: “The orders of the Honourable Court made on the Ist and 6th of July, 2022 are the final orders of court,” he said.
Upon resumed hearing in the matter, Ojonugwa Oguche, counsel for Ukpo, informed that he was served with counter affidavit by the Ekweremadus earlier in the morning and would need to reply on points of law.
Counsel to the respondents, including that of the Ekweremadus, Eyitayo Falogun, SAN, did not oppose the request and Justice Ekwo adjourned the matter until September 20 for hearing at the instance of Ukpo’s lawyer.
The judge then ordered all parties to file and exchange their processes before the next adjourned date.
On June 27, Ekweremadu, who currently represents Enugu West Senatorial District, and his wife, in an application dated and filed on June 27 by Awomolo, sued the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) and four others following the criminal charge filed against them in the UK.
The Comptroller General (C-G), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS); Stanbic-IBTC Bank; United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc were also mentioned as 2nd to 5th respondents respectively.
However, the 5th respondent was later dropped form the charge.
They sought the order of the court directing all the respondents to release to them certified true copies of Ukpo’s biodata information in their care to enable them present the documents before the UK court and the judge granted the request on July 1.
In response, Ukpo, who sought an order setting aside the court proceedings and the ruling, also prayed for an order setting aside the proceedings and the order made on July, 6.
Ukpo also prayed the court to grant an order or perpetual injunction, restraining Ekweremadu, his wife and all the respondents from executing or further executing the ruling.
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