The court upheld the Federal Road Safety Corps’ (FRSC) authority to impound vehicles and imposed a fine on the defaulting motorist.
In 2017, officers and men of the FRSC on patrol arrested Michael Benson Esq., a lawyer in Akwa Ibom State, for violating driver’s licence, vehicle licence, and tyre rules.
The officers impounded his Toyota saloon car with the registration number KTS 572 and fined him.
Benson, on the other hand, took the FRSC to the Akwa Ibom State High Court in Uyo and challenged the agency’s powers and right to impound his vehicle in Suit no: HU/FHR. 21/2017, calling for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights.
He also requested N10 million in damages.
However, the trial Judge, Justice Aniekan Akpan, dismissed the application for lack of merit, stating that the FRSC has the constitutional authority to impound vehicles and fine any erring motorist.
Benson, dissatisfied with the ruling, appealed to the Court of Appeal in Calabar, requesting that the lower court’s decision be reversed.
However, in their decision on Monday, the three-judge panel of Hon. Justice R. C. Agbo, Hon. Justice M. B. Barka, and Hon. Justice B. B. Aliyu upheld the ruling of the Akwa Ibom State High Court in Suit nos: CA/C/305/2017 between Michael Benson Esq. vs FRSC.
Reading the judgement on behalf of the panel, Justice Aliyu said, “FRSC has the powers to arrest and prosecute within the ambit of the law denoted to the commission. We affirm the decision of the trial court and posit that the Appeal was grossly incompetent.”
The court also dismissed Benson’s prayer that N10 million be awarded to him as damages but awarded the cost of N50,000 against him in favour of FRSC.
