The Federal High Court in Abuja has directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to compensate a German national, Martin Gegenheimer, with the sum of ₦63.7m and $10,000 as damages.

This compensation is for the unlawful arrest and detention the German man reportedly experienced at the hands of the Nigerian Immigration Service during the COVID-19 period in 2020.

In compliance with the court’s ruling, Apex Bank has been instructed to pay the ECOWAS Court, as indicated in the case labelled ECW/CCJ/APP/23/2020.

On March 4, 2021, the ECOWAS Court issued a judgment in favour of Gegenheimer, declaring his arrest and detention illegal.

As part of the judgment, the regional court ordered the Nigerian government to provide ₦53,650,925 as special damages to compensate for the various losses and costs incurred during his unlawful arrest and detention by the NIS.

In addition to the aforementioned, the Nigerian government has been instructed by the court to compensate him with an additional N10m for the damages caused and the moral suffering endured, as well as an extra $10,000 to cover the expenses incurred by the applicant in order to obtain his release on bail.

During his testimony at the ECOWAS Court, Gegenheimer revealed that Nigerian Immigration confiscated his passport, and he was held in an overcrowded facility from February 23, 2020, to March 4, 2020.

He further stated that he was deprived of proper food and medical attention, and was not provided with any valid legal justification for his arrest and detention.

However, no arrest warrant or court order was presented to support the humiliating ordeal he went through, Naija News understands.

The German national claimed that he was not allowed a fair hearing before any lawful authority or competent court until March 4, 2020, when he was granted administrative bail due to the impending COVID-19 lockdown in Abuja.

On Thursday, February 22, 2024, Justice Inyang Ekwo ruled on the case, instructing the CBN to deduct the necessary amount from the Federal Government’s funds to settle the debt owed to the ECOWAS Court of Justice.

Justice Ekwo dismissed the CBN’s argument that the government’s foreign exchange accounts were in deficit, stating that Nigerian courts could enforce the ECOWAS Court’s judgments.

The judge said: “Upon a keen perusal of the provisions of the Foreign Judgments Reciprocal Enforcement Act 2004, it cannot be said that the judgment sought to be enforced in this case is stricto sensu (in the strict sense) a foreign judgment.

“I agree with the learned counsel for the judgment creditor that by Article 15 of the Reviewed Treaty of ECOWAS and Article 24 of the 2005 Supplementary Protocol (which amended the 1991 Protocol), the judgment of ECOWAS Court can be registered and enforced in Nigeria by this court without referring to it as a foreign judgment, in the same manner, that the judgment of any other court in Nigeria can be registered and enforced in this court.”