TheCable

Rickey Tarfa, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has withdrawn the N5 billion suit he filed against MTN Nigeria, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and three others.

The anti-graft agency arrested him on February 5 for allegedly shielding two suspects from justice, and he was arraigned in court.

However, in the suit filed before a Lagos high court, Tarfa accused the defendants of violating his right to privacy, as protected by section 37 of the constitution.

He said MTN made the call log on his mobile line, 08034600000, available to the EFCC and the other respondents, who allegedly made the information public.

Tarfa also faulted the commission for accessing his bank details, clients’ information, private and confidential information contained in his two phones, which were seized “without a court order or any reasonable cause”.

He urged the court to award him N5 billion damages, saying no amount of money could redress the unquantifiable and irreparable damage done to him.

But on Wednesday, Olatunde Oladele, a lawyer from Tarfa’s chambers,  appeared before Mohammed Idris, a justice, with an exparte application to discontinue the case.

Oladele gave no reason for Tarfa’s decision to withdraw the case, and the lawyers of the EFCC, who were also at the court, did not oppose the withdrawal of the suit.

They urged the court to award a punitive cost against Tarfa and the judge awarded a punitive cost of N10, 000 against the senior lawyer.