{"id":124214,"date":"2025-12-04T18:44:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=124214"},"modified":"2025-12-04T18:44:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:44:23","slug":"appeal-court-upholds-ruling-restraining-vio-from-impounding-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/appeal-court-upholds-ruling-restraining-vio-from-impounding-vehicles\/","title":{"rendered":"Appeal Court Upholds Ruling Restraining VIO From Impounding Vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">By Lizzy Chirkpi<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court which barred the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), popularly known as the Vehicle Inspection Office (VIO), from stopping vehicles, impounding them, or imposing fines on motorists within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Delivering the judgment on Thursday, Justice Oyejoju Oyebiola Oyewumi dismissed the appeal filed by the VIO, describing it as unmeritorious.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cI find no iota of merit in this appeal; the decision of the lower court is hereby affirmed,\u201d Justice Oyewumi ruled.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She further held: \u201cCost of N1 million is awarded against the appellant.\u201d<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The appellate court\u2019s ruling reaffirmed the 2024 judgment of Justice Evelyn Maha of the Federal High Court, who had declared that officers of the VIO lacked the legal authority to stop vehicles, impound them, or issue fines to motorists. The case was filed by rights advocate and public interest lawyer, Mr. Abubakar Marshal.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Justice Maha held that the Director of Road Transport, the Area Commander Jabi, the Team Leader Jabi, and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory all listed as respondents were not legally empowered by any statute to carry out such enforcement actions.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">She had therefore issued a perpetual injunction restraining the respondents, their agents and assignees from further impounding vehicles or imposing fines on motorists within the FCT.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">According to her ruling, such actions violate constitutional rights including freedom of movement, the presumption of innocence, and the right to own property.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">The judge described the conduct of the VIO as \u201cwrongful, oppressive and unlawful,\u201d stressing that no authority can penalise motorists without clear legislative backing.<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: justify;\">Despite appealing the decision, the VIO failed to convince the appellate court, resulting in a complete dismissal of its case and a N1 million penalty.<\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Lizzy Chirkpi The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld an earlier judgment of the Federal High Court which barred the Directorate of Road Traffic Services (DRTS), popularly known&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":124215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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