The Court of Appeal in Asaba, Delta State, yesterday upheld the Federal High Court’s decision in Warri that the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, may only function on federal roadways.
In law suit, No. CA/AS/276/2019: FRSC Vs Darlington Ehikim, a panel of the court dismissed the FRSC’s appeal contesting the judgement of Justice E. Nwite of the Federal High Court, Warri.
On January 25, 2019, the Federal High Court rendered decision in favour of the Plaintiff, a member of the NBA Warri, and granted all reliefs requested, including a determination that the FRSC has no jurisdiction to operate and/or carry out any activity on State and Local Government roadways.
The trial court also issued restraining orders prohibiting the Commission from operating on roads other than federal highways and awarded the FRSC N10 million in costs. Plaintiff’s lawyer, Mr. Kunle Edun, praised both the trial and appellate courts for upholding the correct interpretation of the law.
He stated that, under the Court of Appeal decision, FRSC personnel on roads inside cities and towns, other than Federal highways, have no authority to be there, since their operations on such roads, which are primarily intended to extort road users, are unlawful.
Edun went on to say that the decision re-emphasizes the country’s federal structure since the FRSC, as a federal organisation, should only be concerned with federal roads.
cc: Vanguard Ng
