KUMAI BAYANG AKA'AHS, J.S.C. (Delivering the Leading Judgment): The suit leading to this appeal originated as an application by Mr. Christian Umeh (now respondent) for the enforcement of his fundamental rights brought pursuant to the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules 1979 in which he claimed the following reliefs:-
(i) A declaration that the arrest, detention and seizure of the Applicant's ECOWAS passport by the 2nd to 4th Respondents at the request of the 1st respondent between the 10th day of April, 2002 and 21 day of May, 2002 of the cell of the 2nd respondent in Ogbor-Hill, Aba is illegal, otiose and misuse of government power since the 2nd to 4th respondents are not debt recovering agency and consequently an infraction on the fundamental rights of the applicant as enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.
(ii) A declaration that the seizure of the Applicant's goods valued at 4.2 million …