A Federal High Court in Enugu has issued a restraining order against former Minister of Information, Chief Frank Nweke Jnr, and two others from the Ishi-Ozalla community in Nkanu West Local Government Area, Enugu State.
The court barred them from further excommunicating or ostracizing Mr. Christian Uzochukwu and his Edeaniagu village.
As part of its ruling, the court also ordered the respondents to pay ₦5 million in general damages for their previous actions against Uzochukwu and his village.
The case stemmed from a 2023 suit (Suit No: FHC/EN/CS/40/2023) filed by Mr. Uzochukwu, who alleged that he and his people were unjustly labeled non-indigenes and subjected to various forms of social and cultural exclusion.
According to the court documents, the excommunication and ostracization were reportedly carried out based on claims that the applicants were not originally from the Ishi-Ozalla community.
In the suit, Uzochukwu accused Sir Willy Chukwuani, Christopher Nwanyanwu, and Chief Frank Nweke Jnr of orchestrating and inciting discrimination against him and his entire village.
He detailed several alleged abuses, stating the respondents subjected them to:
“Continuous shaming, beating, taunting, scornfully jeering at, booing and embarrassment, the tagging and or branding of the applicant and his entire Edeaniagu Village as non-indigenes and or outcasts, slaves, descendants of slaves and non-free born, serfs, strangers and resident non-indigenes of Ishi-Ozalla.”
Uzochukwu maintained that these actions amounted to:
“An infraction of the applicant’s right of dignity to his human person and freedom from discrimination as enshrined in Sections 34 and 46 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended) and Articles 5, 6 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
Delivering judgment on May 21, 2025, Justice M.G. Umar ruled in Uzochukwu’s favor, declaring that the respondents’ conduct was a breach of constitutional and human rights protections.
The court specifically ruled:
“That a declaration is further made that the excommunication and ostracization of the applicant and his entire Edeaniagu village by the respondents is an infringement of the applicant’s right of freedom from discrimination as enshrined in Section 46 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as Amended) and Articles 5, 6 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
Justice Umar further awarded damages and mandated a public apology:
“That the sum of ₦5,000,000.00 (Five Million Naira only) being amount for general and exemplary damages suffered by the applicant as a result of excommunication and ostracization of the applicant and his entire Edeaniagu village by the respondents.
“That the Respondents shall write to the applicant a public apology in a national daily.”
Additionally, the court issued an injunction:
“Restraining the respondents either by themselves, agents, privies, servants or anybody whatsoever from further executing the excommunication and ostracization of the applicant and his entire Edeaniagu village.”
It was also recalled that the original ostracization in 2021 had significant implications, including the disqualification of Prince Don Sylvester Chinedu Nweke, the preferred traditional ruler candidate from Edeaniagu, from contesting in the Ishi-Ozalla Igweship election.
