A High Court sitting in Effurun, Delta state, has dismissed infringement suit seeking the enforcement of fundamental rights filed by Okiemute Diaghwarhe against Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi, a 2023 governorship hopeful.
Delivering judgement, the presiding judge, Justice Emmanuel Z. Dolor, said on Monday July 26, 2021, that the suit with Reg. No. EHC/FHR/79/2020, lacked merit, and could not hold water.
Justice Dolor revealed that the legal battle started on October 5, 2020 as an originating motion on notice.
The judge, in his wisdom, declared that what must be appreciated by all and sundry, “is that the spirit and driving principles of the fundamental rights enforcement regime in Nigeria, may be liberal but they are by so means laissez faire or wishy-washy, for were they so, constitutional liberties themselves would be imperilled and could not be guaranteed in the long run”.
He stated that it would appear, as frequently happens in these human rights cases, that in the build up to this case, applicant succumbed to the temptation to be dramatic and sensational, adding that it would appear that the applicant was in so much hurry to go to court that she failed to watch her back or do her homework well.
According to him, “for a three billion naira suit, methink the applicant did too little and should have been more painstaking, more clinical and intentional in her approach to the case; after all time does not really run against an intending applicant in fundamental rights actions”.
Dolor therefore hinted that: “In the light of the foregoing, the substantive issue for determination which I set out to resolve at the outset of this judgment shall be resolved against the applicant, and it is hereby so resolved, because I specifically find out that none of the applicant’s fundamental rights has been, is being or is likely to be infringed upon by any of the respondents, and I so hold.
“The application filed by the applicant for the enforcement of her fundamental rights is hereby dismissed for lack of merit, he sounded.
