The Federal High Court in Lagos Wednesday struck out an interim order of forfeiture obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) seeking to seize 14 properties linked to Kogi state Governor Yahaya Bello.
Justice Nicholas Oweibo held that Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution prevents the institution of any criminal or civil case against a governor or the President.
The properties are in Lagos, Abuja and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The judge granted the temporary forfeiture order on February 22, following an ex parte motion filed by EFCC counsel, Mr. Rotimi Oyedepo (SAN).
It directed the anti-graft agency to publicise the order in two national dailies for any interested parties to show cause why the order should not be made absolute.
But upon the publication of the preservative order, Governor Bello filed a notice of intention to oppose, and an application seeking the vacation of the interim forfeiture order through his lawyer, Mr. Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN.
The governor premised his application on the ground that the property listed were not proceeds of an unlawful act, as they were acquired long before he was elected as Kogi State Governor and could not have been acquired from Kogi state funds.
He further stated that by Section 308 of the Constitution, the EFCC is prevented from instituting any civil or criminal suit against him.
He also protested the legality in the filing of the suit by the EFCC on the ground that the case was in flagrant disobedience to a state high court order, which restrained the EFCC from investigating any account of the Kogi State Government pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.
According to him, the interim forfeiture order was obtained by either suppression or misrepresentation of facts by the commission.
In his response, Oyedepo said the applicant brought nothing before the court to convince the court to vacate the order.
He said contrary to the submissions of the Applicant, the Kogi State High Court or any other court in Nigeria had not stopped the EFCC from carrying out its constitutional duties.
In his ruling, Justice Nicholas Oweibo held that given Section 308 of the Constitution, which provides immunity to a sitting governor from any civil/criminal prosecution, the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
Consequently, the court struck out the suit for lack of jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the EFCC has filed an appeal challenging Wednesday, April 26, 2023 ruling of Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos, that struck out its suit seeking the forfeiture of 14 property as well as the sum of N400 million linked to the Kogi state Governor, Yahaya Bello, citing his immunity from prosecution under the 1999 Constitution.
Justice Oweibo had, on Wednesday, February 22, 2023, granted an interim forfeiture of the properties in Lagos, Abuja and the United Arab Emirates and also ordered the preservation of the sum of N400 million recovered from one Aminu Falala, which the commission alleged “is reasonably suspected to have been derived from unlawful activity and intended to be used for the acquisition of Plot No. 1224 Bishop Oluwole Street, Victoria Island Lagos.”
EFCC in a press statement by the Head, Media and Publicity, Wilson Uwujaren, Wednesday in Abuja, said: “In the notice of appealed filed today, the Commission averred that Justice Oweibo erred in law when he struck out the suit as the immunity conferred on the Respondent against any civil or criminal proceedings during his incumbency as a governor of Kogi state does not extend to property reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime traced to him.”
The commission further averred that, “the court erred and occasioned a miscarriage of justice when it refused to bind itself with the decision of the Court of Appeal in EFCC V Fayose (2018) LPELR 44131 CA and the decision of the Supreme Court in Fawehinmi V IGP (2002)7 NWLR (PT767)606, on the proper interpretation of Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution.”
