Court awards ₦5m damages against EFCC for wrongly parading photographer as fraudster

Justice D.U. Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abuja has awarded a N5m damages against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for wrongfully parading a photographer named Nasiru Saidu Ali (Kozzo) as a fraudster.

The incident happened in May 2019 when the photographer was wrongfully arrested from his Abuja home and his photos splashed on the social media accounts of the EFCC alongside those of other alleged internet scammers. He was later released after his innocence was established but Ali dragged the anti-graft agency to court for criminal defamation of his character.

The photographer, through his lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, had demanded N100m damages from the EFCC but after five years, the court, in a landmark judgment delivered on Friday, March 22, 2024, awarded a N5m damages against the EFCC and ordered the anti-graft agency to tender a public apology to the photographer