…Adjourns hearing of application to May 20
The Court of Appeal on Friday granted an ex parte motion for stay of proceedings of contempt application against the executive chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ola Olukoyede, by the immediate past governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello.
The court, presided over by Hon. Justice Joseph O.K. Oyewole, assisted by Hon. Justice P.C. Obiora JCA and Hon. Justice Okon Abang JCA, consequently granted the EFCC application to serve the processes in the appeal by substituted means on the former governor.
It also adjourned the hearing of the motion on notice to May 20, 2024.
The EFCC boss was summoned byJustice Isa Abdullahi Jamil of the Kogi state High Court to appear on May 13, 2024, to show cause why he should not be committed to prison for disobeying the orders of the court.
However, the Commission appealed the ruling of the trial court and sought a stay of the proceeding of the court.
The Commission’s helmsman is facing a contempt charge for carrying out “some acts upon which they (the EFCC) have been restrained” by the court on February 9, 2024, pending the determination of the substantive Originating Motion.
However, the appellate court on Friday gave the orders for the stay of contempt proceedings after hearing Chief J.S. Okutepa led Eko Ejembi Eko, Abdulkareem Musa and David Ojogbane Akogu.
The court ordered for substituted service of all the processes in the case to be pasted at No 9 Benghazi Street, Wuse, Zone 4, Abuja, being the last known address of Yahaya Bello.
In granting the orders his lordship, Oyewole JCA held that the motion ex-parte had merit and adjourned the hearing of the motion on notice to May 20, 2024.
The first motion, which was moved by Chief J.S. Okutepa sought an ex-parte order staying the execution of the orders made ex-parte in Motion no HCL/190M/2024 on April 25, 2024, in the case of Alhaji Yahaya Bello vs. EFCC.
The second motion was for an order to serve the respondent, Yahaya Bello, all the processes in the appeal by substituted means through the mode stated on the face of the motion.
The court granted the motion and ordered that all the processes be served through substituted means by pasting on the gate of the last known address of the Respondent at No. 9, Benghazi Street, Wuse, Abuja.
Delivering a ruling in Suit No: HCL/68M/2024 and Motion No: HCL/190M/2024, Justice I. A. Jamil ordered that “the said act was carried out by the Respondent (EFCC) in violation of the order, which was valid and subsisting when it carried out the act.”
It claimed that the act amounted to contempt of the court.
EFCC operatives had laid siege on the residence of the immediate past governor of Kogi state, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on April 17, 2024, to arrest him, despite a court order restraining them from taking such action, pending the determination of the Originating Motion.
Justice Jamil’s order was based on a motion ex-parte filed by Yahaya Bello through his lawyer, M.S. Yusuf, where he prayed the court for an order to issue and serve the respondent (EFCC chairman) with Form 49 Notice to show cause why order of committal should not be made on Olukoyede.
