Vacation of Contempt against EFCC Chairman dodgy

Legal Practitioner and Human Rights Activist, Inibehe Effiong, has said the vacation of the Committal of the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is questionable.

The Legal practitioner who was speaking to TVC News’s Abosede Omoruyi-Adeniran on TVC News at 10 on Thursday said the vacation of the order is questionable on many levels.

He asked why it took the EFCC over one week to even issue a Statement or start to comply with an order that was issued in 2018.

He asked the EFCC to provide proof of not being aware of the committal proceedings or if the Court proceedings were held Ex-Parte.

He described the vacation of the Order as a typical example of a Social Stratification that exists in the Nigerian society.

He said the average Nigerian does not have access to the judgement or privilege that the EFCC Chairman got.

He said it is very difficult for an influential Nigerian to be held accountable.

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“Thank you for having me. Well, personally, I’m not surprised that Less than 24 hours after my Lord had made that order, the Learned Judge of the FCT High Court, the same court has now vacated the Committal Order against the Chairman of the EFCC, Mr. Bawa.

And the reason why I’m saying that it is not surprising to me is because in this country it is very difficult to hold influential people accountable. So when you have a situation where a court makes an order and within 24 hours that order is vacated, you would want to ask certain questions.

When was the application to have that Order back? At first, when was it served on the other party? When did the other party respond to the application? Because ordinarily in this kind of situation, a party that is served with an application in motion typically has between five to seven days to respond, depending on the rules of courts.

The point I am making is that it is not surprising. But the reason I’m more particular about the reason given by the Learned Judge for vacating the Order, which is that the court has now found that at the time the Order was made, which is just yesterday, the EFCC Chairman, or the EFCC was not in contempt that the Range Rover had been released.

Actually they were effort made to refund the N40 million as ordered by the courts. Which really begs the question what was the basis for granting this Order in the first place? What evidence was aaduced?

Was the committal order held in private? Was it an ex-parte proceedings? Was the EFCC or the Chairman of the EFCC not represented. There are so many issues that need to be clarified.

I expect the EFCC and indeed the man who owns these properties. To give clarity to the public, it is not enough for Nigerians to be told just yesterday that the chairman of the anti corruption agency has been committed to prison.

And the next day we are hearing that the order has been vacated on the basis, that it was wrongly made, that the order said to have been violated were not valid. So I personally want to know whether the Committal proceedings were held Ex-parte. Was it an Ex-parte proceeding was Bawa or EFCC not served with the motion that led to the Committal?

If they were served, did they file a counter motion in a proceeding of that magnitude? When did the court realised that the EFCC was in contempt or that the same was in contempt? But the good thing again is that for whatever it is worth, we have now seen the need to comply with the order.

Because for me, what I have read is that the EFCC chairman has exhibited certain documents to show that the processes for the release of the money had commenced, that does not amount to compliance.

What that shows is that you have taken steps to comply. It is not that you have complied. So for me, when we see the proceedings of today, we will be able to say clearly whether this vacation of the order is proper or not.

Because if that money is still in their possession, so what exactly is the compliance? What exactly is the order that has been obeyed? Because as at today it does appear that the money is still with the EFCC.

So what is the order that the EFCC did not violate here? It is not enough to say I had signed papers for this money to be released. Why should it take you one week after an order was made since 2018 for a commission to still hold on to that money?

So for me, what I see here is social certification. This order has been basted partly because the person is involved is the chairman of the EFCC.

Most Nigerians do not have this privilege, this kind of privilege in our judicial system that you have an order made met against you and the next day you file the paper and you get the court to assign that matter for hearing and therefore that is vacated within 24 hours.

“Most Nigerians do not have that privilege”.