Kogi Govt, EFCC, and the Unending Fracas By Yakubu Audu
POLITICS DIGEST- To someone who has been observing events in Kogi State, it is obvious that, for more than a year, the seat of power at the confluence state has been at ‘daggers drawn’ with Nigeria’s famous anti-graft agency- the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
It all started when the EFCC accused the Kogi State Government of keeping about N20 billion bailout funds meant to pay workers’ salaries in a commercial bank in order to yield interest, an allegation which the government vehemently and consistently denied.
But it didn’t take the anti-graft agency a long to provide an ‘evidence’ that the N19.3 billion which the Kogi State Government allegedly hid in a commercial bank has been returned to the Central Bank of Nigeria.
However, the Kogi government said it would prepare a comprehensive response to what it called “the desperate moves by the commission.”
Therefore, since last quarter of 2021, the duo of Kogi State government led by Yahaya Bello and Abulrashid Bawa-led EFCC have engaged in series of accusations and counter-accusations that can be described as “Do Me, I Do You” Drama. For all this time, the court and media space have been serving as avenues for displaying these dramatic events.
Just recently, a Kogi State High Court committed the EFCC boss to prison for disobeying court order. The court also directed the Inspector-General of Police to effect, Bawa’s arrest and remand him in Kuje prison for the next 14 days until he purges himself of the contempt Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court, in his ruling on Monday, granted the application for commital to prison of the EFCC chairman for disobeying a court ruling delivered on November 30, 2022, wherein the EFCC chairman was directed to produce the applicant in the case, Ali Bello.
Ali Bello had dragged Bawa to court for arresting and detaining him illegally, with the court ruling in his favour, only for the EFCC to arraign him for alleged money laundering three days after the ruling.
The EFCC’s applications for setting aside a stay of execution of the ruling were refused for want of merit.
The Court had, in Form 49, Order IX, Rule 13, marked: “HCL/697M/2022” and titled: “Notice to Show Cause Why Order of Committal Should not be Made,” asked the EFCC Chairman to appear before it on January 18, 2022 to explain why he should not be jailed for flouting the order given on December 12, 2022 in a case filed by Ali Bello against EFCC and Bawa, as the 1st and 2nd respondents, respectively.
The court ordered that the EFCC and Bawa be served the motion of notice together with Form 49 by substituted means.
The court had declared the arrest and detention of the applicant in the face of a subsisting Court order made by a Court of competent jurisdiction and without a warrant of arrest “or being informed of the offence for which he was arrested” as unlawful, unconstitutional, and in contravention of the personal liberty and dignity of human person guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).
The court had also ordered the respondents to tender an apology to the applicant in a national newspaper and awarded N10 million compensation for him.
The Form 49, issued on December 15, 2022, and addressed to Bawa read, “Take notice that the Applicant will on the 18th day of January, 2023 at the hour of 9 o clock in the forenoon or so soon thereafter, apply to this Court for an order for your committal to prison for having disobeyed the order of this Court made on 12th day of December, 2022 that:
“That arrest and detention of the Applicant on the 29th November, 2022 by the 1st and 2nd Respondents in the face of a subsisting Court Order made by a Court of competent jurisdiction and without a warrant of arrest or being informed of the offence for which he was arrested is unlawful, unconstitutional and contravenes the Applicant’s right to personal liberty and dignity of human person guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) and Articles 5 and 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
“Perpetual injunction restraining the Respondents, their agents, servants, privies, or however called from further arrest, detention, harassment and intimidation of the Applicant.
“An order directing the Respondents to tender an apology to the Applicant in any of the National Daily having nationwide coverage for the illegal detention and harassment of the Applicant. An Award of the sum of Ten Million Naira as general damages jointly and severally against the Respondents for the unlawful detention and harassment of the Applicant.”
The ruling followed an application by Counsel to Ali Bello, S. A. Abass. Esq.
In a seeming retaliation, two days later the EFCC arraigned Governor Bello’s wife, Rashida and nephew, Ali Bello over allegged ‘N3bn fraud.’
In a statement by Wilson Uwujaren, EFCC spokesperson, the agency said the duo were docked alongside three other persons on an 18-count charge “bordering on criminal misappropriation and money laundering to the tune of N3,081,804,654″.
Rashida is, however, said to be at large.
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“That you, Ali Bello, Abba Adaudu, Yakubu Siyaka Adabenege, Iyada Sadat, Rashida Bello (at large) sometime in June, 2020 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honourable Court procured E-Traders International Limited to retain the aggregate sum of N3,081,804,654.00 (Three Billion, Eighty One Million, Eight Hundred and Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Fifty Four Naira) which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful activity to wit: criminal misappropriation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to sections 18(a), 15(20)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act,” the charge reads in part.
“That you Ali Bello, Abba Adaudu Rashida Bello (at large) sometime in November 2021 in Abuja within the jurisdiction of this Honorable Court procured E-Traders International Limited to transfer the aggregate sum of $570,330 (Five Hundred and Seventy Thousand, Three Hundred and Thirty United States Dollars) to account number no; 426-6644272 domiciled in TD Bank, United States of America, which sum you reasonably ought to have known forms part of proceeds of unlawful activity to with: criminal misappropriation, and you thereby committed an offence contrary to section 15(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 as amended and punishable under section 15 (3) of the same Act.”
The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC counsel, thereafter asked the court to set a trial date, but Ahmed Raji, the defence counsel, asked for bail pending when the case would be determined.
Obiora Egwuatu, the presiding judge, ordered that the defendants be remanded at a correctional centre pending the ruling on their bail application.The matter was also adjourned till February 13.
Imediately after the arraignment of Bello’s family, the EFCC appealed the ruling of a Kogi state high court that ordered the remand of its chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa for contempt.
The anti-graft agency, in a statement on Thursday, said it has filed a stay of execution of the orders issued by the Kogi court. It added that the Kogi high court does not have the jurisdiction to entertain the matter heard on February 6, 2023, and December 12, 2022.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, February 7, 2023 filed a motion before the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal asking for a stay of execution of the judgment of Kogi State High Court in Suit No: HCL/696/2022 between Ali Bello and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and Others, delivered on 12th of December, 2022 and the consequential order made on the 6th of February, 2023,” the statement read in part.
“Other reliefs sought in the motion on notice, including an order of interlocutory injunction restraining the appellants/applicant from attempting to execute/ enforce the judgment of the trial court pending the final hearing and determination of the appeal.
“In the supporting affidavit to the application, deposed to by Samuel Anele Ugwuegbulam, he affirmed that the appellants have “strong, good and arguable grounds of appeal”.
Meanwhile, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ola Olanipekun, has urged the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to comply with a court order that committed the EFCC Chairman to prison for contempt. The lawyer who said Bawa was trying to cause anarchy in the country by flagrantly disobeying court orders, said the EFCC boss was committed to prison in a similar ruling by a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court in November.
The lawyer spoke as the Office of the IGP received and acknowledged the order committing Bawa to prison.
Speaking on Arise Television, Olanipekun argued that no Nigerian or foreigner, no matter how highly placed, should be allowed to rubbish the courts. He stressed that the same instrument put the EFCC boss in office.
“In fact, the higher the position you occupy, the greater the burden of responsibility on you to show good example and live within the ambit of the law.”
Insisting that the anti-graft agency boss could not take any action without first obeying the court order that sent him to jail, Olanipekun averred that the actions of the EFCC boss amounted to law-breaking and could trigger anarchy in the land.
He said: “Over the years, EFCC had been having a running battle with the law. We must realise that Section 34, in fact, the entire Chapter 4, has to do with the fundamental human rights of Nigerians, and this is the area where EFCC always has problems.
“Section 34 talks about the dignity of the Nigerian person. You don’t just treat people anyhow. The fact that somebody has a case doesn’t mean he has lost his citizenship.
“There is presumption of innocence, not only when you are taken to court, it also applies when you are being investigated. The degree of innocence, when being investigated, is even higher than when taken to court. A man has his right to fair hearing.”
Nonetheless, rather than engaging in all these episodes of drama, Kogi State must come out clean by clearing the air on the said allegations labelled against it by the EFCC.
On the other hand, the Bawa-led EFCC must also provide undisputed evidence to prove its cases against Kogi government and other defendants as the public is closely monitoring how the events are unfolding and eagerly anticipating the truth.
It is trite in law that whoever alleges must prove. The burden of proof is huge and it is firmly on the shoulders of the EFCC. Rather than grandstanding and chasing shadows, the anti-graft commission must learn how to conduct diligent investigations so they stop media trials and stop losing cases recklessly.
