Justice Hamza Muazu of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory has annulled the detention order made by a Magistrate court presided over by Mohammed Abba Bello on January 22, 2024.
The order which was quashed on Tuesday in a ruling was made against the Medical Director (MD) of Alliance Hospital Abuja, Dr Christopher Otabor.
The MD it was learnt was allegedly detained for 14 days, over alleged organ harvest.
The voided order is in notice marked MN/01/2024 with suit no. CV/W2ZZ/37/2024, between the Federal Government and Dr Christopher Otabor.
Magistrate Bello and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) are 1st and 2nd respondents respectively in the motion.
In the motion, Dr Otabor’s sought for a judicial review of the January 22, order of the Magistrate court which had ordered NAPTIP to detain the him for 14 days.
While advancing argument before the court, Counsel to Otabor, Chidi Jude Dimgba argued that the Magistrate made the order in excess of jurisdiction in violation of section 294 of Administration of Criminal Justice ACT 2015, which limits powers of Magistrate to grant remand order.
Ruling on the matter, Justice Muazu discountenanced all the issues brought forward by NAPTIP’s lawyer in opposition to Otabor’s motion where he sought a review of the Magistrate court order.
The Judge held that after reviewing the procedure that led to the detention order, it did not believe that the Magistrate court was right in it’s decision as it acted in excess of its jurisdiction.
Justice Muazu noted that the Magistrate failed to consider the issue of bail, stressing that an allegation of organ harvesting is a bailable offence.
“The remand order is hereby quashed. Applicant is to be released pending arraignment if any, the court ordered,” the Judge said.
