The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday upheld a Federal High Court ruling restraining the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (VIO) from stopping, impounding, or confiscating vehicles and from imposing fines on motorists.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Oyejoju Oyebiola Oyewumi declared that the VIO’s appeal lacked merit.
“I find no iota of merit in this appeal; the decision of the lower court is hereby affirmed. Cost of N1 million is awarded against the appellant,” the court held.
The original suit, filed last year by rights activist and public interest lawyer Mr. Abubakar Marshal, led Justice Evelyn Maha of the Federal High Court to issue an order restraining VIO officials from impounding or confiscating vehicles and imposing fines.
The judge ruled that the first to fourth respondents—the Director of Road Transport, the Area Commander, Jabi, and the Team Leader, Jabi—and the fifth respondent, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), lacked any statutory authority to enforce such actions.
The trial judge described such acts as “wrongful, oppressive, and unlawful” and issued a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, or anyone acting on their behalf from violating Nigerians’ rights to freedom of movement, presumption of innocence, and property ownership without lawful justification.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the VIO appealed the decision but was unsuccessful as the appellate court affirmed the lower court’s judgment in full.