A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a £990 trillion suit filed against the Central Bank of Nigeria, describing the case as confusing and lacking any valid claim.
The case was filed by Mr Tunde Omosebi, who claimed that the CBN and several other institutions had violated his fundamental rights. However, Justice James Omotosho ruled on Wednesday that the lawsuit made no sense and failed to show any reasonable complaint.
In his judgment, Justice Omotosho said, “This suit is hereby dismissed for not being a fundamental rights suit, for lack of reasonable cause of action against any of the defendants and for being incomprehensible.”
The judge further ruled that Mr Omosebi would not be allowed to file any new case unless it is done through a lawyer or he presents a medical report from the National Hospital proving he is mentally fit.
Omosebi had listed the CBN Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, and the heads of United Bank for Africa (UBA), Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB), and Zenith Bank as the first to fourth defendants. He also included the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, among others.
He demanded £990 trillion as compensation for “traumatic torture” and also asked the court to convert the CBN to a “Reserve Bank” under a law he claimed existed in Nigeria. He also wanted a 10% interest on the money and ₦5 million as the cost of the suit.
In response, lawyers for the CBN and other defendants said the case was baseless and lacked facts. They argued that Omosebi had no legal standing and failed to explain how the defendants wronged him.
Reading through the claims, Justice Omotosho said the court could not understand what Omosebi really wanted.
“The more the court read, the more the court became confused as to what exactly the plaintiff was claiming,” he said.
He added that there was no clear reason why Omosebi wanted the CBN converted into another institution, and no evidence was provided to show any wrongdoing by the banks or lawmakers mentioned in the suit.
The judge also noted that Omosebi failed to prove he even had accounts with any of the banks he sued or that his rights were denied.
In a surprising move, the court also discovered that Omosebi kept adding more defendants without permission. From the original seven defendants, he later listed 57, including all airlines in Nigeria, without the court’s approval.
Justice Omotosho said Omosebi had shown similar behaviour in another case he filed against former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, where he claimed to be both “Chairman of the Federal Executive Council” and “Prime Minister of Nigeria”—a position that does not exist in the country.
“This court is a place of serious business and has no time to entertain frivolous and confusing suits,” the judge said, adding that the case wasted the court’s time.
After the ruling, two senior lawyers, Mr Ikechukwu Ezechukwu (SAN) and Mr Sanusi Musa (SAN), praised the judgment.
Ezechukwu said, “It gives me a reminder of Onitsha Market literature we read when we were small. I thank my lord for taking time to read through this trash.”
Musa added, “He is coming to ask before my lord the money that is more than the budget of Nigeria.” He also suggested that the National Assembly should study the case and consider changing the law to stop such “nonsense suits” from wasting court time in the future.
