By Ameh Ejekwonyilo
Justice Adeniyi Ademola of a Federal High Court in Abuja has given permission for commencement of a suit seeking to compel the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the execution of the N76billion Abuja Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) contract.
Justice Adeniyi Ademola, in a ruling on Tuesday, granted leave to an Abuja-based lawyer, Olugbenga Adeyemi to “apply for the judicial review of mandamus compelling the 1st respondent (EFCC) to investigate and prosecute” those involved in the contract.
The ruling was on an ex-parte application by Adeyemi, who seeks to compel the EFCC to investigate and prosecute those involved in the execution of the contract awarded by the federal government shortly after the first bombing incident in Abuja in 2011.
By the court’s ruling, Adeyemi is now allowed to apply for an order compelling the EFCC to prosecute those involved in the contract for “financial misappropriation and impropriety” on the ground that the project was poorly executed.
Those Adeyemi wants the EFCC to investigate and prosecuted included the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Nigeria Police Force (NPC), Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), ZTE Corporation (the Chinese firm awarded the contract) and Nigeria Communication Satellite (NCS), listed as 2nd to 8th respondents.
Adeyemi hinged his application on the ground that the 2nd to 8th respondents “have squandered a whooping sum of N76m due to their actions and inactions on a comatose project of installation of Abuja CCTV.”
He added that “several years after its installation, the Abuja CCTV installations have not worked even for a day.”
The plaintiff stated that were the CCTV installations working, it would have been easier to identify and prosecute those behind the incessant bomb explosions in Abuja and its suburbs, including Nyanya.
Hearing in the main case has been fixed for July 1, 2014.
