A High Court sitting in Abuja, on Tuesday, dismissed a case filed by Ali Bello, Chief of Staff to the Kogi State Governor, against Senator Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In 2024, Senator Natasha petitioned the Nigerian Police that contrary to the convention of installing CCTV cameras around perimeter fencing, Ali Bello, a nephew of the former Governor Yahaya Bello installed a CCTV camera on his roof, breaching her privacy, and asked the police to investigate his motives.
Instead of responding to police invitation, on 21 May 2024, Bello sued Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan for N1 billion and demanded for public apology while also alleging the Senator published his house address on her X handle thereby exposing his life and family to unwanted guests and negative social media comments.
He said contrary to the senator’s assertion, the referenced house neither belonged to former Governor Bello nor was it under any forfeiture order obtained by the EFCC.
He also denied the senator’s allegations, accusing her of submitting a petition against him to the police and the State Security Service (SSS) with malicious intent .
Bello also alleged that Senator Akpoti-Uduaghan violated his fundamental rights to privacy of his home, family life, dignity of person, personal liberty, and the right to own and acquire property under Sections 34(1), 35(1), 37, 43, and 44(1) of the Nigerian Constitution.
In her argument, Senator Natasha through her lawyers led by O. O Ibrahim argued that Mr Bello had mounted CCTV cameras to monitor her property for political reasons.
She also said she shared the post being referenced to notify the EFCC of the whereabouts of former Governor Bello, who has a running battle with the agency, adding that the property referenced in her post was among some properties under an interim forfeiture order obtained by the EFCC. She maintained that as lawmaker and a law abiding citizen, she is under obligation to give information to security agencies in the performance of their duties. She also argued that the she cannot be held liable to have breached the fundamental rights of Bello by reporting a security breach to the police
In his ruling, Justice Slyvanius Oriji agreed with the Senator’s position that the building’s photo being visible to the public meant it wasn’t private, and there was no evidence to support Bello’s claims. The judge also agreed with the Senator that making a report to police cannot be held to be a violation of the Applicant’s right particularly that the Applicant did not show to the court that he was arrested or detained by the police.
However, the judge by the way noted that Natasha’s actions in sharing the home address publicly without sufficient reason were unjustified.
The court in all dismissed the suit declining to award Bello the N1 billion in damages or public apology in two National Dalies as sought.
Both parties were ordered to bear their own legal costs.
