Facts have emerged on why no fewer than 16 state governments may have instituted a suit at the Supreme Court to challenge the legality of the laws that established the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit.
The suit, marked SC/CV/178/2023, was originally filed by the Kogi State Government through its Attorney General, Muiz Abdullahi SAN. However, 15 other states joined as co-plaintiffs on Tuesday.
The states are Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Nassarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Enugu, Benue, Anambra, Plateau, Cross River, and Niger.
The states contended that the formation of the agencies breached constitutional provisions. They argued that the constitution required the endorsement of a majority of the states’ Houses of Assembly for the EFCC Act, but this was not done before the agency was created.
After the arguments, a seven-member panel of apex court justices, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, fixed October 22 for hearing and granted leave for consolidation of the case on Tuesday.
However, Saturday PUNCH learnt that the suit may not be unconnected with the protracted legal battle between a former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and the anti-graft agency over allegations of financial misappropriation to the tune of N110bn. The EFCC also recently reopened N772bn money laundering cases against 13 other former governors and ministers.
The EFCC in January 2024 reopened the cases, including that of the diverted $2.2bn that involved two former Ekiti State governors, Kayode Fayemi and Ayo Fayose; former Zamfara State Governor and current Minister, Bello Matawalle; two former Enugu State governors, Chimaroke Nnamani and Sullivan Chime; former Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Adamu; and former Kano State Governor Rabiu Kwankwaso.
Others are former Rivers State, Governor Peter Odili; former Abia State Governor, Theodore Orji; former Gombe State Governor, Danjuma Goje; former Sokoto State Governor, Aliyu Wamako; former Bayelsa State Governor, Timipre Sylva; and former Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido.
Speaking to our correspondent on Friday, the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, said the legal actions against the commission were indicative of its effectiveness in fighting corruption.
He said, “As a matter of fact, the actions are coming based on what the commission is doing. If we were not doing our work and generating the necessary action against corrupt practices, the kind of concerted hostility the commission is experiencing would not arise. I think this is an appraisal of the work the commission is doing and its effectiveness.
“Whatever they are doing, there is no way it can stand. Yes, the matter is before the court, and the court is the only institution to adjudicate on the matter.”
But in response to enquiries made by Saturday PUNCH, some of the states offered conflicting reasons for their involvement in the suit.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Information, Dotun Oyelade, told Saturday PUNCH that the suit “was in line with what the state government had always imbibed in its legal system.”
He said, “With respect to what might be the statutes of the EFCC, if legal lacunae are observed, it is not going to be business as usual, nor will it be a factor of which political party you belong to.”
But the Special Adviser on Media and Strategy to the Ogun State Governor, Mr Kayode Akinmade, said, “It is not true that we filed a suit to challenge the constitutionality of the EFCC. What we filed was a suit to challenge the constitutionality of some policies of the NFIU restricting the access of state governments to their money by for example limiting how much they withdraw in cash. We did not even join Kogi’s suit. We filed our own.”
The Cross River State Commissioner for Information, Erasmus Ekpang, also told our correspondent that the state was not involved in the case despite being on the list.
He said, “What Cross River State joined was the previous suit instituted by the Kogi State Government against the National Financial Intelligence Unit, and it was done under the previous administration of Ben Ayade.”
According to him, the case was to challenge and determine whether the NFIU has the legal standing to investigate how local government funds are appropriated in a state.
The Plateau State Government also denied being involved in the suit, stating it had never called for the scrapping of the EFCC.
The state Commissioner for Information, Musa Ashoms, said, “We have not taken a position on the cancellation of the EFCC as a state. It is a creation of law, and we believe the law should be allowed to take its course on any matter in the country.”
The Nasarawa State Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Labaran Magaji, declined comment on the matter.