Court of Appeal upholds ₦12m damages against EFCC over Monday Ubani’s detention

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and upheld a ₦12 million damages award to lawyer Monday Ubani, SAN, over his unlawful detention for 21 days in 2019.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision delivered on Thursday, October 15, 2026, also ordered the anti-graft agency to pay ₦300,000 in costs, according to a report by Premium Times published on Sunday.

The case arose after the EFCC arrested and detained Ubani, a former vice-president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), following its inability to locate Ngozi Olejeme, a former chairperson of the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund (NSITF), who had been granted administrative bail.

The investigation concerned allegations of financial crimes linked to Olejeme’s tenure at the NSITF, rather than allegations against Ubani himself.

Ubani and former Senator Christopher Enai had stood as sureties for Olejeme, undertaking to ensure that she complied with the conditions of her bail. The EFCC later said it could no longer reach her and demanded that the sureties produce her.

The commission subsequently arrested the two men in March 2019 after they failed to produce Olejeme.

Ubani maintained that his role as a surety did not make him responsible for Olejeme’s disappearance and could not justify his detention in her place.

In March 2019, the Federal Capital Territory High Court in Apo, Abuja, directed the EFCC to charge Ubani and Enai before a court or release them on bail under specified conditions.

The dispute later resulted in a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Ubani, who sought ₦5 billion in damages over his arrest and detention.

In January 2022, Justice Sylvanus Oriji ruled in Ubani’s favour, declaring the detention unlawful and awarding him ₦12 million in damages. The court, however, declined to order the EFCC to issue a public apology.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, the EFCC appealed, challenging the jurisdiction of the trial court and the amount awarded as compensation.

The Court of Appeal rejected the commission’s challenge and affirmed the lower court’s decision.

The ruling reinforces the distinction between a surety’s obligations and the criminal liability of the person for whom bail was granted.

A surety may face legal consequences for failing to produce a person released on bail, including proceedings relating to forfeiture of the bail bond. However, the failure to produce that person does not, by itself, automatically justify detaining the surety as a substitute for the suspect.

The case also highlights the obligation of law enforcement agencies to exercise their investigative powers within the law and respect judicial decisions.

With the appeal dismissed, the ₦12 million damages award remains in place, alongside the additional ₦300,000 ordered as costs against the EFCC.