Court Gives Verdict on Order Asking IGP to Arrest EFCC Chairman

Court Gives Verdict on Order Asking IGP to Arrest EFCC Chairman

  • The EFCC chairman, Ola Olukoyede, has been freed from the contempt of court levelled against him
  • Justice Abubakar Hussaini Musa of the court of the federal high court in Abuja in Thursday reversed the order issued to the IGP to arrest the EFCC chairman
  • The court vacated the order on the ground that the EFCC chairman was not aware of the order and could not have violated the court contempt

The Federal High Court at the Federal Capital Territory has vacated the order directing the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to arrest Ola Olukoyede, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman.

Justice Abubakar Hussaini Musa of the court on Thursday, January 25, reversed the order to arrest Olukoyede for disobeying the court's ruling that the operatives of the EFCC leave a property at Number 6, Aso Drive, Abuja.

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Ola Olukoyede/EFCC/Federal High Court/Abuja
Court free EFCC chairman off contempt of court Photo Credit: EFCC Nigeria
Source: Twitter

In a tweet by the anti-graft agency on Thursday, the EFCC said the court upheld the position of its lawyer and senior advocate of Nigeria, Rotimi Oyedepo, that Olukoyode's commitment was to move "the EFCC towards enhanced professionalism and accountable conducts, could not have willfully ignored or disobeyed the order of the court."

Why the court frees the EFCC chairman from contempt of court

Oyedepo posited that Olukoyede, a legal practitioner, might not have disobeyed the court order intentionally.

He then urged the court to vacate the order, adding that issues involving the parties in the case would be resolved amicably.

Justice Musa of the federal high court in Abuja, in his ruling, said:

“I knew that the EFCC Chairman was unaware of this; that is why I want the Chairman to come.”

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The court subsequently vacated the matter and freed the EFCC chairman of contempt of court. It further adjourned the case to February 7 for the hearing of a substantive suit.

See the tweet here:

"No ongoing recruitment in EFCC": Anti-graft agency says

Legit.ng earlier reported that the EFCC had denied the report that it was currently recruiting new officers into its folds.

Dele Oyewale, the commission's spokesperson, said the advertisement linking the agency to purported recruitment is false.

Oyewale then warned members of the public to be cautious of such advertisements so that they would not become victims of fraudsters.

Source: Legit.ng

Authors:
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Bada Yusuf (Politics and Current Affairs Editor) Yusuf Amoo Bada is an accomplished writer with 7 years of experience in journalism and writing, he is also politics and current affairs editor with Legit.ng. He holds B.A in Literature from OAU, and Diploma in Mass Comm. He has obtained certificates in Advance Digital Reporting, News Lab workshop, Journalism AI Discovery. He previously worked as Editor with OperaNews. Legit’s Best Editor of the Year for Politics and Current Affairs Desk (2023). Contact: bada.yusuf.amoo@corp.legit.ng