Info have emerged on why no fewer than 16 state governments could have instituted a swimsuit on the Supreme Court docket to problem the legality of the legal guidelines that established the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee and the Nigerian Monetary Intelligence Unit.
The swimsuit, marked SC/CV/178/2023, was initially filed by the Kogi State Authorities by means of its Lawyer Basic, Muiz Abdullahi SAN. Nevertheless, 15 different 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 companies breached constitutional provisions. They argued that the structure required the endorsement of a majority of the states’ Homes of Meeting for the EFCC Act, however this was not executed earlier than the company was created.
After the arguments, a seven-member panel of apex courtroom justices, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, fastened October 22 for listening to and granted depart for consolidation of the case on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, Saturday PUNCH learnt that the swimsuit will not be unconnected with the protracted authorized battle between a former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, and the anti-graft company over allegations of economic misappropriation to the tune of N110bn. The EFCC additionally just lately reopened N772bn cash laundering circumstances in opposition to 13 different former governors and ministers.
The EFCC in January 2024 reopened the circumstances, together with that of the diverted $2.2bn that concerned two former Ekiti State governors, Kayode Fayemi and Ayo Fayose; former Zamfara State Governor and present 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.
Talking to our correspondent on Friday, the EFCC Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, stated the authorized actions in opposition to the fee have been indicative of its effectiveness in preventing corruption.
He stated, “As a matter of truth, the actions are coming based mostly on what the fee is doing. If we weren’t doing our work and producing the required motion in opposition to corrupt practices, the sort of concerted hostility the fee is experiencing wouldn’t come up. I feel that is an appraisal of the work the fee is doing and its effectiveness.
“No matter they’re doing, there isn’t a method it might probably stand. Sure, the matter is earlier than the courtroom, and the courtroom is the one establishment to adjudicate on the matter.”
However in response to enquiries made by Saturday PUNCH, among the states provided conflicting causes for his or her involvement within the swimsuit.
The Oyo State Commissioner of Info, Dotun Oyelade, informed Saturday PUNCH that the swimsuit “was according to what the state authorities had all the time imbibed in its authorized system.”
He stated, “With respect to what is likely to be the statutes of the EFCC, if authorized lacunae are noticed, it isn’t going to be enterprise as common, nor will or not it’s an element of which political social gathering you belong to.”
However the Particular Adviser on Media and Technique to the Ogun State Governor, Mr Kayode Akinmade, stated, “It isn’t true that we filed a swimsuit to problem the constitutionality of the EFCC. What we filed was a swimsuit to problem the constitutionality of some insurance policies of the NFIU proscribing the entry of state governments to their cash by for instance limiting how a lot they withdraw in money. We didn’t even be a part of Kogi’s swimsuit. We filed our personal.”
The Cross River State Commissioner for Info, Erasmus Ekpang, additionally informed our correspondent that the state was not concerned within the case regardless of being on the checklist.
He stated, “What Cross River State joined was the earlier swimsuit instituted by the Kogi State Authorities in opposition to the Nationwide Monetary Intelligence Unit, and it was executed beneath the earlier administration of Ben Ayade.”
In line with him, the case was to problem and decide whether or not the NFIU has the authorized standing to research how native authorities funds are appropriated in a state.
The Plateau State Authorities additionally denied being concerned within the swimsuit, stating it had by no means known as for the scrapping of the EFCC.
The state Commissioner for Info, Musa Ashoms, stated, “We’ve not taken a place on the cancellation of the EFCC as a state. It’s a creation of legislation, and we imagine the legislation must be allowed to take its course on any matter within the nation.”
The Nasarawa State Lawyer Basic and Commissioner for Justice, Labaran Magaji, declined touch upon the matter.
Equally, the Katsina State Commissioner of Info, Bala Salisu, informed our correspondent that he wasn’t conscious of the case.
He promised to get again to our correspondent when briefed. However as of the time of submitting this report on Friday, he had but to answer our correspondent’s inquiry.
Efforts to get a response from the Benue State Lawyer Basic and Commissioner for Justice and Public Order, Fidelis Mynin, have been unsuccessful as his telephone rang out. Additionally, he didn’t reply to the textual content message despatched to his cellphone as of the time of press.
When Saturday PUNCH reached out to the Sokoto State Commissioner for Info, Sambo Danchadi, he didn’t reply calls or reply to textual content messages despatched to him.
When contacted, the Edo State Commissioner of Communications, Chris Nehikhare, referred our correspondent to the state Lawyer Basic, Oluwole Osaze Uzzi. However the AG didn’t choose up calls made to his traces and didn’t reply to messages despatched to him on WhatsApp.