Probe After Tenure: Court Dismisses Sanwo-Olu’s Suit Against EFCC
The Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out the suit seeking to restrain the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from arresting Babajide Sanwo-Olu, governor of Lagos, at the end of his tenure.
The presiding judge Joyce Abdulmalik, dismissed the suit after Gbenga Akande, the counsel who appeared for Sanwo-Olu, moved the motion to discontinue the case. The court struck out the case on October 31.
In October, the lawsuit instituted on behalf of Sanwo-Olu against the EFCC over an alleged plan to arrest and prosecute him after his tenure was heard in court.
Darlington Ozurumba, a lawyer, filed the suit on behalf of the Lagos governor, who will complete his eight-year tenure on May 29, 2027.
In the suit, the lawyer argued that the alleged plan to arrest Sanwo-Olu is “unconstitutional and a flagrant violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty and freedom of movement as stipulated under sections 35(1) & (4) and 41(1) of the constitution”.
The suit sought an order to restrain the EFCC from harassing, intimidating, arresting, detaining, interrogating, or prosecuting Sanwo-Olu in connection with his tenure as the governor of Lagos state.
But reacting to the suit, the Lagos government had said that Sanwo-Olu did not instruct anyone to file a case against the EFCC.
The State Attorney-General, Mr Lawal Pedro, SAN, said the state will investigate “how the case came to be without the knowledge” of the governor
Pedro said neither the governor nor his aides are under investigation by the EFCC, adding that there is no threat of arrest by the anti-graft agency.
In a counter affidavit, Ufuoma Ezire, a superintendent and litigation secretary in the legal and prosecution department of the antigraft agency, said the EFCC is not investigating the governor and has never threatened to arrest him or his staff.
During yesterday proceeding, Hadiza Afegbua, counsel of the EFCC, appeared in court for the case.
The lawyer was disappointed that the case was not among the 10 listed for hearing at the court.
The counsel was reported to have expressed surprise when she learnt that the suit had been struck out on October 31.
However, the enrolled order dated October 31 shows that only Akande, the counsel who represented Sanwo-Olu, attended the proceedings leading to the dismissal of the suit.
