Skip to main content

Imo, others join Suit challenging EFCC legitimacy as Supreme Court reserves judgment

 

At the resumed hearing on Tuesday, three states; Imo and Bauchi and Taraba joined the suit as co-plaintiffs while Osun sought a consolidation of the suit.

According to NPO Reports, the Supreme Court, on Tuesday, has reserved judgment in the suit filed by 19 states challenging the constitutionality of the laws establishing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The apex court is to communicate a date for judgment to all parties.

The plaintiffs, in the suit marked: SC/CV/178/2023, argued that in Dr Joseph Nwobike Vs Federal Republic of Nigeria, the apex court had held that it was a UN Convention against corruption that was reduced into the EFCC Establishment Act and that in enacting this law in 2004, the provision of Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was not followed.

The argument was that, in bringing a convention into the Nigerian law, the provision of Section 12 must be complied with.

According to them, the provision of the constitution necessitated the majority of the states’ Houses of Assembly agreeing to bringing the convention in before passing the EFCC Act and others, which was allegedly never done.

The argument of the states in their present suit, which they had reportedly been corroborated by the Supreme Court in the previous case mentioned, is that the law, as enacted, could not be applied to states that never approved of it, in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian constitution.

Hence, they argued that any institution so formed should be regarded as an illegal institution.

In another development, three states; Anambra, Ebonyi and Adamawa announced their decisions to withdraw their suits.

The Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, who was present in court as the defendant, had craved the court’s indulgence to take the process they filed on Tuesday morning.

Justice Uwani Abba-Aji thereby granted leave to the defendant to use the reply on point of law filed on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the number of states challenging the constitutionality of the EFCC and others had climbed to 19, including Kogi, despite the withdrawal of three states.

The states are Kogi, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Enugu, Oyo, Benue, Plateau, Cross River, Ondo, Niger, Edo, Bauchi, Imo, Osun, Nasarawa, Ogun, Taraba.



Source: NPO Reports 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

War at NASS amid Akapbio impeachment as DSS takes over

                              Akpabio The premises of the national assembly appears like a war zone this morning as men of the Department of State Security (DSS) have taken over amidst speculations of an impeachment move against Sen. Akpabio  Operatives of the DSS have taken control of the national assembly amid allegations of a potential impeachment threat against Senate President, Goodswill Akpabio. Speculations have swirled that some aggrieved northern senators, allegedly dissatisfied with President Bola Tinubu, are reportedly reviving an earlier attempt to remove Akpabio from office. Globally, parliaments have dedicated internal security personnel responsible for maintaining order and safety within and around the premises of parliament. Other security agencies attached to the parliament are present to ensure the safety of lives and property in the event of any security breach or threats that might disrupt the proceedings of lawmakers and staff, particularly when internal security i
Post a Comment
Read more

No sit-at-home in South-East on Tuesday – Ekpa insists

 (By thenewsguru.com) The Prime Minister of the Biafra Republic Government in Exile, Simon Ekpa, has clarified that there will be no sit-at-home on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, in the Southeast region. In a statement issued Monday through his official Twitter handle, Ekpa emphasized that only Monday’s sit-at-home was observed to demand the release of Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), and to push for the delegitimization of Nigeria’s authority in the Biafran territory. At CHISCO TRANSPORT, every journey is safe  Ekpa made the clarification in response to circulating claims suggesting that a sit-at-home would also occur on Tuesday. He reiterated that no such directive has been issued for that day. He further noted that he would address Biafrans live on his platform to explain the decision. “Ekpa has cleared the air on the rumored sit-at-home, and he promised to go live on X Space to inform Biafrans that there is no sit-at-home tomorrow,” he said. It is note
Post a Comment
Read more

United States grand jury indicts Nigerian Catholic priest on three felony sexual assault charges

  Anthony Odiong is accused of sexual assault by at least eight women whom the priest had been counseling Ramon Antonio Vargas The criminal case that authorities are building against a Roman Catholic priest accused of preying on women whom he met while working in south-east Louisiana and Texas is progressing, with a grand jury in the latter state indicting him on three felony sexual assault charges. Anthony Odiong, 55, faces two counts of second-degree sexual assault as well as one of first-degree sexual assault in the charges handed up against him recently in the McLennan county, Texas, state court. The charges against Odiong – who was first arrested in July – involve two women. He could receive up to life imprisonment if convicted of the first-degree charge, a stiffer penalty that stems from the fact that the alleged victim in the case was a woman whom Odiong was prohibited from “marrying or purporting to marry” under Texas law. The second-degree counts each carry up to 20 years in p
Post a Comment
Read more