By Chris Steven, Abuja
A Federal High Court in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital Wednesday ruled that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the apex should unfreeze the bank accounts of 20 #EndSARS promoters.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed gave the ruling following the agreement reached by parties in the suit to amicably resolve the matter.
The Judge while commending counsel to the CBN, Michael Andoaka, and lawyer to the defendants, Femi Falana, ruled that “all processes filed in respect of the case are hereby deemed to have been withdrawn.”
Justice Mohammed then, set aside the November 4, 2020 order and ordered that all the accounts of the affected persons “be immediately defreezed.”
The CBN, in an exparte motion, had prayed the court to freeze the bank accounts of Bolatito Rachael Oduala and 19 others who participated in last year’s protest to end police brutality in the country.
Nigerian youths had in October last year protested in what was tagged #ENDSARS protest to demand end to police brutality in the country.
The protest which started on social media spread across Southwest, southeast, south south states and Northcentral including Abuja.
It forced the government to announce a police reforms which included the disbarment of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a unit of the Nigeria Police notorious for extra judicial killing and brutality.
The protest culminated in the now popular Lekki shooting on the night of Tuesday, October 20, when men of Nigerian Army opened fire at protesters at the Lekki tollgate in Lagos.
Many protesters were reported dead and injured, but authorities have since denied killing protesters.
The apex bank said it took the action to investigate the promoters of the protest on allegations bordering on terrorism financing, among others
