By Adetokunbo FAKEYE
Nigeria – A former Chairman, House Committee on Financial Crimes, Hon. Kayode Oladele, at the weekend praised the Supreme Court’s recent judgment, which dismissed a suit filed by 19 states challenging the legitimacy and authority of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
According to Oladele in a statement, the decision of the Supreme Court is a “vindication of our position that Nigeria operates a co-operative federalism as opposed to dual federalism and under the co-operative federalism as practiced in Nigeria, some agencies like the EFCC, ICPC and NFIU are common agencies for both the Federal and State Government and such, the EFCC is qualified as any other authority to institute criminal proceedings under section 174(1)(b) and section 211(1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended)”.
While describing the decision as another bold step towards enhancing the operational capacities of the anti-graft agencies in Nigeria, said, “It has finally put to rest the desperation by some powerful forces to truncate the federal government’s efforts in fighting and taming the monster of corruption in the country and I have no doubt in my mind that the judgement will further enhance and strengthen the operational capacity of our anti-graft agencies.
“By this judgement, the investigative and prosecutorial powers of EFCC and ICPC over crimes committed at both the states and federal levels have been affirmed and our arguments have been sustained by the Supreme Court”.
Hon. Oladele, an international human rights lawyer, who was also a former Chief of Staff in EFCC had earlier wrote against stand of Mr. Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), former President of the Nigerian Bar Association, on the legitimacy of the EFCC.
Mr. Agbakoba had argued in a letter to the National Assembly that the EFCC was unconstitutionally established as “the powers under which it was established go beyond the powers of the National Assembly” and therefore, should be abolished; Oladele posited that the view expressed by Agbakoba “did not have any legal backing and therefore unsupportable in law and practice, but mere sophistry”.
The suit, initially filed by the Kogi State Government, questioned the EFCC’s power to investigate and prosecute crimes nationwide, arguing that the EFCC Act contradicts the Nigerian Constitution.
The Supreme Court, however, unanimously ruled in favor of the EFCC, and other anti-graft agencies affirming their establishment and authority to tackle corruption across all states.
The states had approached the apex court in Nigeria to seek judicial interpretation and judgement on the existence and prosecutorial authority of the anti-corruption agencies in the states, stating that a UN Convention against corruption had led to the EFCC Establishment Act and that in enacting the law in 2004, the provisions of Section 12 of the Nigerian Constitution were not followed. However, some of the states later withdrew from the suit.
In a landmark judgment delivered on Friday, November 15, 2024 by a seven-member panel, led by Uwani Abba-Aji, the Supreme Court ruled that the laws establishing the EFCC and other anti-graft agencies were validly enacted by the National Assembly within its legislative competence.
The court struck out the case for lack of merit and labeled the motives of the 16 state governments challenging the legitimacy of key anti-corruption agencies, such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), have been labeled the motives of the state governments challenging the establishment of the anti-graft agencies as “selfish”.
