Court dismisses Melaye’s lawsuit against NCDC bill

The Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday dismissed a suit filed by a former Kogi West senator, Dino Melaye, against the Control of Infectious Diseases Bill 2020. The lawsuit challenged some provisions of the controversial Bill which is more popularly referred to as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Bill.

The hearing, was presided over by Justice Ijeoma Ojukwu and she upheld the notices of preliminary objection filed against the suit for lack of jurisdiction to hear it.

The judge, who did not consider the case on merit, claimed that the issue raised in it was not justifiable, as the bill cannot become a subject of litigation until it is signed into law.

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Former senator, Melaye had on May 5, 2020, filed the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/463/2020, urging the court to delete sections 5, 8, 15, 16 and 17 of the bill. According to him, these sections constituted a violation and would likely violate his rights under the Nigerian Constitution, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights as well the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

The provisions of the bill being contested by Melaye included the ones seeking to empower the Director-General of the NCDC to compel anyone to take medical examination or treatment and also collect the blood sample of such person in the case of a public health emergency.

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Some of the provisions also seek to empower the NCDC to take over any premises and turn them into isolation centres without compensation for the owner. In addition, the bill also seeks to arrest and detain a suspected infected person without his or her consent.

The plaintiff alleged that the controversial bill would specifically violate his fundamental rights to dignity of his person, personal liberty, private and family life, right to freedom of movement and right to own immovable property in Nigeria.

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The respondents to the suit are the Clerk of the National Assembly, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Mr Abubakar Malami, and the Inspector-General of Police, Mr Mohammed Adamu. The judge however struck out the IGP’s name for the failure of the plaintiff to disclose any course of action against him.

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