In a flip of occasions on the Federal Excessive Courtroom in Ikoyi, Lagos, on Friday, January 24, 2025, the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee formally withdrew its arrest warrant for Ezekiel Onyedikachi, aka EeZee Tee, the proprietor of EeZee Conceptz, gospel singer, Mercy Chinwo’s former file label.
The withdrawal follows a contentious authorized battle between Chinwo and EeZee Tee, stemming from monetary disputes below a 50/50 gross revenue-sharing settlement. EeZee Conceptz alleged that it had paid Chinwo $625,000.
Throughout Friday’s proceedings, Justice Alexander Owoeye, presiding over the case, didn’t make any direct pronouncements concerning the monetary dispute. Nonetheless, after an intensive evaluation of the information, the EFCC, represented by its lead counsel, Bilikisu Buhari, formally requested the withdrawal of the arrest warrant.
EeZee’s counsel, Onyekachi Ubani (SAN), argued that the EFCC had overstepped its bounds in acquiring the preliminary arrest order. He maintained that the problem at hand was a contractual dispute relatively than a felony matter. He additionally said that his shopper had filed a basic human rights enforcement go well with in one other court docket to halt his arrest and had lodged a preliminary objection to the fees in opposition to him.
Chatting with newsmen on the court docket premises, one other member of EeZee Tee’s authorized workforce, Maxwell Opara, mentioned, “EFCC approached the court docket stating that our shopper evaded service and ran away from arrest. Primarily based on that reality, the court docket granted an order that our shopper ought to be arrested. Upon receiving that data, we filed the required papers asking the court docket to put aside the order. We additionally put in movement a problem to the arraignment of our shopper as a result of this can be a purely civil matter regulated by contract, and the mentioned contract has not been invalidated or declared as an instrument of fraud earlier than EFCC stepped in.
“We got here this morning just for them to inform the court docket that that they had simply been served and wanted time to reply. Within the curiosity of justice, the court docket granted their utility, which we didn’t object to. The court docket additionally made a consequential order directing that they need to not pursue our shopper as a result of now we have filed our papers earlier than the court docket and notified them of the character of the matter, which they complied with.”
The case was adjourned to February 14, 2025, for additional proceedings.