16 Govs vs EFCC: Supreme Court Takes Action As 3 States Pull Out of Case

• The Supreme Court reserved judgment in the suit seeking to declare the EFCC's operations in Nigeria illegal
• This is after Anambra, Adamawa, and Ebonyi states officially withdrew from the case filed by 16 state governments challenging the EFCC's constitutionality
• The Supreme Court panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji struck out the three states as plaintiffs after the Attorney General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, did not oppose their withdrawal

Legit.ng journalist Esther Odili has over two years of experience covering political parties and movements.

On Tuesday, October 22, three states of the federation pulled out of the lawsuit before the Supreme Court seeking to declare the operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) illegal.

This is as the apex court reserved judgment on the case. As reported by Vanguard, Anambra, Adamawa and Ebonyi states announced their decisions to withdraw from the matter shortly after it was called up for hearing on Tuesday.

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Supreme Court: Anambra dumps 16 govs, withdraws from suit seeking to declare EFCC illegal

The Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), who is the sole defendant in the matter, did not oppose their request to withdraw from the case.

Consequently, the apex court panel, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, struck out Anambra, Adamawa, and Ebonyi states as the 9th, 16th and 18th plaintiffs in the suit.

Court's decision in 16 govs vs EFCC case

While adopting its processes on Tuesday, the state, through its counsel, Mr Abdulwahab Mohammed (SAN), urged the court to grant all the reliefs and “award heavy cost in favour of the plaintiffs on record.”

In his response, the AGF, Prince Fagbemi (SAN), said he had filed both a preliminary objection and counter-affidavit on October 18 to query the competence of the action.

While urging the court to strike out or dismiss the case, the AGF argued that contrary to the contention of the plaintiffs, the EFCC was validly established in line with the provision of section 15(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

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Suspense as Supreme Court set to rule on 16 governors’ vs EFCC suit

He refuted the claim by Kogi state that the EFCC Establishment Act was an offshoot of an international convention that was not properly domesticated in Nigeria.

After it had listened to both sides, Justice Abba-Aji led the panel to reserve its judgement till a date it said would be communicated to the parties.

EFCC re-arraigns ex-Kwara gov, ex-commissioner

In another development, Legit.ng reported that the EFCC re-arraigned a former Kwara state governor, Abdulfatah Ahmed, and his Commissioner of Finance, Ademola Banu, over alleged N5.78bn fraud.

Abdulfatah Ahmed was governor of Kwara state from 2011 to 2019 under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)

The anti-graft agency re-arraigned Ahmed and Ademola Banu over alleged N5.78bn fraud before Kwara state high court on Monday, October 21.

Proofreading by Nkem Ikeke, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng