Ismaila Mustapha, an internet celebrity better known as Mompha, has filed a N5 million lawsuit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over his recent re-arrest by the anti-graft agency.
The EFCC had earlier arrested Mompha over alleged N32.9 billion money laundering while he was about leaving the Abuja airport for the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
He was later released after the federal high court in Ikoyi, Lagos granted him bail in the sum of N100 million in bond.
The court had consequently ordered the anti-graft agency to release items seized from the internet sensation on the ground that it did not list them as exhibits in court.
The seized items had included five wristwatches, one Apple Air pod, one iPhone 8 mobile phone, and one pair of sunglasses.
But Mompha was said to have been re-arrested on Friday when he visited the EFCC’s office at Ikoyi to reclaim the seized items as ordered by the court.
In the suit filed before the federal high court in Lagos on Tuesday by Gboyega Oyewole, his counsel, Mompha prayed the court to direct the commission to pay him N5 million for “unlawful arrest and detention.”
The socialite and self-acclaimed Bureau De Change agent also prayed the court to declare the continued seizure of his items as a violation of his right to own property as enshrined in section 44 of the constitution.
Reacting, however, Dele Oyewale, spokesman for the EFCC, explained that Mompha’s re-arrest was not connected to the earlier charges pressed against him.
The court is yet to fix a date to hear the N5 million suit by Mompha.
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