The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed a motion seeking a stay of execution on the ruling by Justice Nicholas Oweibo of the Federal High Court in Lagos. The ruling involved 14 properties and the sum of N400m linked to the Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
On April 26, 2023, Justice Oweibo struck out a suit by the EFCC seeking the final forfeiture of the properties based on the provisions of Section 308(1) of the constitution. The judge had stated that since a sitting governor has immunity from any civil or criminal prosecution, the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter.
At a recent hearing, counsel for the EFCC, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, informed the court of an application dated April 27, 2023, seeking a stay of execution of the ruling. Responding to this, Akoh Ocheni, counsel to the respondent, filed an application for the EFCC’s application to be struck out due to the Commission’s non-compliance with the court’s rules of filing a written address. Oyedepo countered this, saying a written address was filed on the same day as the application and that the proceedings are no longer before the court but in transmission to the Court of Appeal.
Justice Oweibo has adjourned the matter sine die.
Earlier, on February 22, 2023, Justice Oweibo granted an interim forfeiture of the properties in Lagos, Abuja, and the United Arab Emirates. The judge also ordered the preservation of the sum of N400m recovered from one Aminu Falala, which was 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.
In a hearing held on March 28, 2023, Oyedepo informed the court that the Commission had received a notice of opposition to the preservation order, which they had responded to. In response, Bello, through his counsel, Abdulwahab Mohammed SAN, sought to vacate the court order, stating that most of the properties being sought after for forfeiture were acquired by Bello before he became the Governor of the state.
Oyedepo argued that where a state’s governor is reasonably suspected of committing a financial crime, the state could investigate for evidence to be used in prosecution when the governor no longer enjoyed immunity. He also stated that the steps the prosecution was taking were for preservation and could not be stopped. However, Judge Oweibo held that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter due to Section 308 of the Constitution that provided immunity to a sitting governor.
As a result, the EFCC filed an appeal, challenging the April 26, 2023, ruling that struck out its suit. The commission argued that 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 properties reasonably suspected to be proceeds of crime traced to him. The commission also asserted that the court erred by refusing to be bound by 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. Finally, the commission claimed that the trial court erred in striking out a preservation order of properties suspected to have been derived from proceeds of unlawful activities despite its findings that the Respondent failed to show the genuine origin of the funds used to acquire the property under the preservation order.
