Facts:

Facts:
The 1st respondent is a Nigerian company incorporated to engage in negotiating
copyright license and related matters. The 2nd to 5th respondents are officers of
the 1st respondent. The 1st appellant which is an agency of the Federal government
vested with statutory powers over copyright works and intellectual property matters
effected the arrest and detention of the 2nd to 5th respondents after it received a
petition from the International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI) alleging
that the 1st respondent was infringing on the rights of its members by authorizing
the reproduction of their works without the consent of the owners of the copyright
works which is an offence under the Copyright Act. The appellants sent the
petition to the 1st respondent who failed to immediately respond to the allegations
contained in the petition. The 1st appellant thereafter commenced investigation
on the petition and found that the 1st respondent was in fact infringing on the
copyrights as alleged in the petition. It was also discovered in the course of the
investigation that the 1st respondent was carrying on business as a collecting
society without the requisite approval of the 1st appellant as required by the
Copyright Act, which is also an offence under the relevant law.
Consequently, the 1st appellant directed its operatives to arrest the 2nd to 5th
respondents who were officers of the 1st respondent at the material time. The
officers of the 1st appellant also seized some properties belonging to the 1st
respondent and after their statements were taken, the 2nd to 5th respondents were
released by the 1st appellant. The respondents were aggrieved and filed an action
at the Federal High Court, Lagos Division alleging violation of their fundamental
right to personal liberty. They alleged that the 1st appellant was in the habit of
frequently arresting and detaining them and filing spurious charges against them
in court which were eventually dismissed for lack of diligent prosecution. After
hearing the parties on their applications, the trial judge gave judgment in favour
of the respondents and ordered the appellants to pay damages ofN20,000,000.00
(Twenty Million Naira) to the respondents.
The appellants were dissatisfied with the judgment of the trial court and filed a
notice of appeal at the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division urging the court to overrule and set aside the judgment of the trial court. One of the issues raised for
determination is whether the arrest and detention of the 2nd to 5th respondents
and seizure of the 1st respondent’s properties constitute breaches of their
fundamental rights.