Court orders Anambra govt to release officials indicted by EFCC for corruption

• Says graft agency has power to investigate state finances

A FEDERAL High Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, has ordered the state government to release its officials accused by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) of misappropriating public funds for interrogation.

The court also dismissed a suit filed by the state government, challenging EFCC’s power to investigate its finances, describing it as factually and forensically lacking in merit. 

A statement by EFCC’s spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, quoted the presiding Justice, Nnamdi Dimgba, to have said, while delivering his ruling, that EFCC has constitutional powers to investigate any act of economic and financial crime in any part of the country.

Dimgba, according to the statement, stressed that neither the authorities of a state’s Assembly nor Auditor- General of a state can prevent the commission from performing its mandate as contained in the Constitution.  

The state government had approached the court to determine whether, under the federal system of government, with the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers,  “appropriation, disbursement and/or administration of funds belonging to a state government is subject to investigation by the EFCC being an agency of the Federal Government.”

The suit, with the number, FHC/ AWK/ CS/ 22/ 2022, filed by Anambra State Government (1st Plaintiff) and Attorney- General of the state (2nd Plaintiff), was against EFCC (1st Defendant) and Attorney- General of the Federation (2nd Defendant). 

The suit was a response to series of letters of invitation by the commission sent to the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) and the State Attorney

The invitation was following the data collection exercise for administration of subsidy to smallholder farmers, as well as alleged case of abuse of office.

In his judgment, according to the EFCC spokesman, Justice Dimgba said: “In my view, the questions posed by the applicants are largely whether EFCC, a federal agency, is exclusively for all purposes, or both a federal and state agency for some other purposes.  It all depends on the context to which the question has been posed. 

“Binding existing judicial standard is to the effect that the EFCC is an agency both for the federal and state governments, as far as combating corruption and other economic crimes in Nigeria are concerned.”

While agreeing with an earlier judgment that Nigeria practices cooperative federalism, Justice Dimgba said: “In the co-operative federalism practiced in Nigeria, the EFCC is a common agency empowered to investigate and prosecute offenders for both federal and state economic and financial crimes, and, as such, it qualifies as ‘any other authority or person’ empowered by Section 211(1)(b) of the Constitution to institute or initiate criminal proceedings.”