By Enyichukwu Enemanna
The Court of Appeal sitting in Asaba, Delta State, South-South Nigeria, on Monday ordered the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) to restrict its operations within roads owned by the Federal Government.
This is a re-affirmation of the judgment of the Federal High Court in Warri which held that the FRSC cannot operate on roads in towns and cities.
The Federal High Court had on January 25, 2019, entered judgement in favour of the Plaintiff, Darlington Ehikim who is a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Warri and granted all the reliefs sought.
Among the reliefs is a declaration that the FRSC has no right to operate and/or carry any activity on State and Local governments roads.
The trial court also issued restraining orders against the Commission from operating on roads other than federal highways and also awarded cost of N10m against the FRSC.
A panel of the Court of Appeal in suit No. CA/AS/276/2019: FRSC Vs Darlington Ehikim dismissed the appeal filed by FRSC challenging the judgment of Justice E. Nwite of the Federal High Court, Warri.
Mr. Kunle Edun, counsel to the plaintiff commended both the trial and appellate court for standing by what he termed proper interpretation of the law.
By virtue of the Court of Appeal judgment, FRSC personnel who are on roads inside cities and towns except Federal highways, have no right to be there, the counsel stated.
Mr. Edun accused FRSC officials of mainly extorting road users with their operations in roads in towns and communities.
He stated that the Judgment is a re-emphasization of the federal structure of the country because the FRSC being a federal agency should only concern itself with federal roads.
