A Federal High Court in Abuja has prohibited the Directorate of Road Traffic Services, commonly known as VIO, from stopping vehicles, impounding or confiscating them, and imposing fines on drivers.
Justice Evelyn Maha issued this order in her ruling on a fundamental rights enforcement suit: FHC/ABJ/CS/1695/2023, filed by human rights activist and public interest attorney Abubakar Marshal. The ruling also affects the Director of Road Transport, the Area Commander of Jabi, the Team Leader of Jabi, and the Minister of the FCT, who were named as respondents.
In the judgment delivered on Wednesday, October 2, Justice Maha supported Marshal’s argument that no existing law grants the respondents the authority to stop, impound, confiscate, seize, or impose fines on motorists.
The judge declared that the first through fourth respondents, who operate under the oversight of the fifth respondent (the Minister of the FCT), lack any legal power to stop or confiscate motorists’ vehicles or impose fines on them.
She subsequently issued an order restraining the first to fourth respondents, including their agents, servants, or assigns, from impounding or confiscating any vehicle or imposing fines on motorists, deeming such actions wrongful, oppressive, and unlawful.
Justice Maha further granted a perpetual injunction prohibiting the respondents, along with their agents, privies, allies, or anyone acting on behalf of the first respondent, from further infringing on Nigerians’ rights to freedom of movement, the presumption of innocence, and the right to own property without lawful justification.
