FIJ
A Federal High Court in Lagos State dismissed a case seeking to prevent the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from investigating Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on completion of his tenure on Tuesday.
Vanguard reported the court’s decision on Wednesday.
This happened without the awareness of Vibrant Chambers‘ Darlington Ozurumba, the lawyer who instituted the case.
The case had generated a public debate when it was filed in June, with many people questioning the propriety of seeking to stop the EFCC from doing its job if it had any reasonable ground to investigate the governor upon completing his tenure on May 27, 2027.
On October 29, Justice Joyce Abdulmalik fixed Tuesday for further hearing.
Ozurumba went to the court on Tuesday only to discover that it had been struck out 26 days ago, on October 31.
The lawyer found that the case was not on the court’s case list for the day, prompting him to ask questions.
Ozurumba had claimed that the EFCC was planning to arrest Sanwo-Olu immediately after his tenure and submitted such a plan was “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 lawyer also prayed the court “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”.
Meanwhile, Ufuoma Ezire, a superintendent and litigation secretary at the EFCC’s legal and prosecution department, countered Ozurumba, saying that the agency was not investigating the governor and had no intention to arrest him or his appointees.
Furthermore, the state government told the court that the lawyer acted without authorisation, with Lawal Pedro, the state commissioner for justice and attorney-general, promising to look into “how the case came to be without the knowledge” of the governor.
Reacting to a news report about the case on October 30, Pedro said, “We need to clarify that Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at no time, sued or briefed any legal practitioner to file a suit on his behalf concerning the above subject matter.
