The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) sitting in Maitama, Abuja, has convicted Immaculata Nkiruka Ikenwankwor, a United Kingdom-based Nigerian medical professional employed as a Radiographer with the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and registered with the UK Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), of criminal contempt of court.
Presiding Judge, Hon. Justice O. A. Musa, in a landmark Ruling delivered on 2nd July, 2026, sentenced the contemnor to 22 months of immediate imprisonment to be served at the Suleja Correctional Facility and issued and signed a Bench Warrant directing the Director-General of State Security Service (SSS) and the Inspector-General of Police to immediately apprehend the Respondent wherever she may be found within the territorial jurisdiction of Nigeria and convey her to the Suleja Correctional Facility to serve her term of committal.
While the Comptroller-General of Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) was ordered to immediately place the Respondent’s bio-data and her Nigerian International Passport details on the National Security Watchlist and “No Fly List” across all international and domestic air, land, and sea ports within the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Court further ordered the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) Abuja to immediately diffuse the Bench Warrant of the Court into the United Kingdom
The conviction follows enforcement proceedings instituted by the Judgment Creditor under Suit No: FCT/HC/CV/1392/2026. At the hearing of the committal application, the Applicant was robustly represented by a team of senior lawyers led by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria: Dr. D.A. Awosika, SAN and Chief Lukman O. Fagbemi, SAN.
On the 2nd April, 2026, after making a global Mareva order against the assets of the Respondent, the Court ordered her as follows:
AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Respondent to disclose on oath within 7 days [inclusive of the date this Order is served on her] all her assets worldwide including bank accounts [certified statement of which shall be produced covering the period between 1st January, 2025 to 5th January, 2026], moveable properties, employment income and real property and filed with the Registry of this Honourable Court.
AN ORDER of this Honourable Court directing the Respondent to immediately preserve and maintain intact all electronic communications, digital records, recordings, messages, documents, and data relating to the Applicant or the matters forming the subject of this suit, whether stored on mobile phones, computers, tablets, external drives, cloud storage systems, social media platforms, email accounts, or any other digital medium under the possession, custody, or control of the Respondent pending the hearing and determination of this suit.
AN ORDER of this Honourable Court restraining the Respondent, whether by herself or through any person acting on her behalf, from deleting, erasing, altering, concealing, encrypting, transferring, or otherwise tampering with any electronic data, communications, recordings, messages, images, or digital materials relating to the Applicant pending the final determination of this suit.
AN ORDER of this Honourable Cour directing the Respondent to file within fourteen (14) days (inclusive of the date of service of this order on her) an affidavit confirming full compliance with the Electronic Evidence Preservation and Disclosure Orders of this Honourable Court.
The Respondent’s refusal to comply with above judicial command even after the judicially appointed timelines had elapsed drew the anger of the Court which noted in its final Judgment of 3rd June, 2026 as follows:
“The record shows that these orders were duly served. Yet, the Respondent, who received the Orders of this Court, chose a path of absolute silence, total non-compliance, and calculated disdain. She did not file the ordered affidavit, nor did she offer a shred of explanation for her non-compliance. The implications of this defiance strike at the very foundation of administration of justice. Court orders are not polite invitations, nor are they advisory suggestions to be obeyed only when convenient. They are the binding commands of the Sovereign, issued through this Court, and backed by the full majesty of the law.”
It was to enforce the Orders of the Court made on 2nd April, 2026 that the Judgment Creditor /Applicant first sought and obtained the leave of Court on the 15th June, 2026 to serve the contempt Forms and committal Motion on the Respondent by substituted means. The Court first made a finding of fact to the effect that:
Form 48 (Notice of Consequences of Disobedience), Form 49 (Notice to Show Cause Why Order of Committal Should Not Be Made) and the committal motion were properly issued, filed, and served on the Respondent. To this day, the Respondent has filed no counter-affidavit, has entered no appearance, and remains unrepresented, despite being given ample opportunity to be heard.
In its Ruling on the Application for committal of Nkiruka Ikenwankwor to prison, which was robustly argued, on behalf of the Judgment Creditor/Applicant, by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria; DR. D.A. AWSOIKA, SAN and PRINCE LUKMAN O. FAGBEMI, SAN, the Court after reviewing the facts and authorities to which it was referred, held that:
While this suit arose within a civil context, the nature of the Respondent’s continuous, defiant breach has completely transformed this matter into one of criminal contempt. Because assets disclosure orders following a Global Mareva Order and evidence preservation mandates are structural pillars of a lawsuit, courts treat these specific breaches as an existential threat to the administration of justice. It bears reminding that breaching an asset disclosure order is not treated as a mere procedural slip. In Nigerian jurisprudence, failing to disclose worldwide assets or hidden bank accounts is classified as a contempt of court that carries custodial sentences (imprisonment).
The Court adopted the landmark position of the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court in JSC BTA Bank v. Ablyazov [2015] UKSC 67, which settled the principle that asset disclosure obligations within a Worldwide Freezing Order are paramount because they serve as the ancillary mechanism that allows both the claimant and the court to effectively “police” the injunction. The Court further held that intentionally failing to disclose assets or providing false data is a severe, criminal-level contempt that regularly justifies a maximum two-year custodial sentence.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in Ebhodaghe v. Okosun (2001) 16 NWLR (Pt. 740) 440, the Court further held that:
By intentionally breaching Orders 3, and 7, the Respondent actively hid assets worldwide and failed to prove she did not destroy digital evidence. Under our laws, any act that scales beyond a private wrong and actively scorns, mocks, or paralyzes the court’s foundational ability to administer justice constitutes criminal contempt on the authority of Odu v. Jolaoso (2005) 16 NWLR (Pt.950) 178 establishing firmly that criminal contempt consists of any deliberate defiance, or act meant to denigrate the nobility, majesty, and authority of a court of law and that all court orders are binding and must be strictly obeyed. The Respondent has undoubtedly acted in a manner that shows utter scorn, disrespect, and continuous defiance designed to embarrass or hinder the administration of justice cumulatively translating to criminal contempt, (2005) 16 NWLR (Pt.950) 178.
I find as a fact that the Respondent disobeying Order 7 amounts to a direct obstruction of justice, giving her contempt a distinctly criminal and punitive nature.
Relying on the Supreme Court’s decision in BPE & Anor v. BFI Group Corp (2024) LPELR-62011(SC), the Court held as follows:
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Furthermore, by evading justice while maintaining professional employment and properties in the United Kingdom, the Respondent has demonstrated utter disdain for the administration of justice in Nigeria. The judiciary cannot stand by and watch its integrity compromised by a fugitive contemnor. Her conduct is a public wrong against this Court, and it must be punished accordingly. The insolence to the authority of this Court displayed by the Respondent must not be allowed to slide. The Respondent’s serious, contumacious flouting of orders of the court, must not be tolerated as accentuated by the Court in, Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd v Khan [2022] EWHC 45 (Ch). The Supreme Court of Nigeria in BPE & ANOR V. BFI GROUP CORP (2024) LPELR-62011(SC) imposes a duty on me to commit the respondent to prison in the circumstances as described in the preceding parts of this Ruling
According to the Court, “For all the reasons set out above, I impose an immediate custodial sentence of twenty-two (22) months on the Respondent.”
In granting the entire reliefs sought by the Applicant, the Court pronounced as follows:
IT IS HEREBY DECLARED that the Respondent, IMMACULATA NKIRUKA IKENWANKWOR, is found GUILTY of criminal contempt of court by reason of her willful, deliberate, and continuous disobedience of the Orders of this Honourable Court made on the 2nd day of April, 2026, particularly Orders 3 and 7 thereof.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Respondent be committed to the Suleja Correctional Facility in Niger State, Nigeria, to be safely kept and detained therein for a fixed punitive period of twenty-two (22) months, or until she fully purges her contempt by complying fully with the asset disclosure and electronic evidence verification mandates.
I HEREBY ISSUE A BENCH WARRANT OF ARREST forthwith authorizing the Nigeria Police Force, the Inspector-General of Police, the State Security Service (SSS), and its Director-General (or any officers acting under their command) to immediately apprehend the Respondent wherever she may be found within the territorial jurisdiction of Nigeria and convey her to the Suleja Correctional Facility to serve her term of committal.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Director-General of the State Security Service (SSS) shall immediately place the Respondent’s bio-data and her Nigerian International Passport details (Passport No. 850981231, expiring 25th April, 2034) on the National Security Watchlist and “No Fly List” across all international and domestic air, land, and sea ports within the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Upon arrival or detection, she shall be immediately apprehended, and her passport confiscated.
AS A CONSEQUENTIAL ORDER, this Court hereby directs the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) and the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) Abuja to immediately diffuse the Bench Warrant of this Court into the United Kingdom via the INTERPOL I-24/7 global network and formal diplomatic extradition channels, specifically targeting her known location at 7 Huxley Place, Wigan, United Kingdom (WN3 5TQ) and her place of employment at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to secure her localization, arrest, and extradition from the United Kingdom to face her custodial term in Nigeria.
