Court strikes out Mompha’s suit against EFCC over arrest warrant

Justice Ayokunle Faji of a Federal High Court, Lagos, has struck out the suit filed by the popular Internet celebrity, Ismaila Mustapha (a.k.a. Mompha), asking the court to vacate order of arrest against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The court struck out Mompha’s suit for lack of diligent prosecution.

Mompha, who in a suit filed by his counsel, Olufemi Oguntokun and Wale Michael Adekola, had asked the court for an order mandating the EFCC to withdraw the request for his arrest made to the ICPO-INTERPOL in March 2023, said that the anti-graft agency had failed and/or refused to furnish the ICPO-INTERPOL with specific details of the allegations against him.

He said that his application was pursuant to Order 26 Rule 1 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules and the court’s inherent jurisdiction.

At the resumed hearing of the matter, yesterday, the applicant (Mompha) was not in court and neither was he represented by any of his counsel.

The EFCC counsel, Sulaiman Sulaiman, informed the court that neither the applicant nor his legal representative had been in court to prosecute the suit since it was filed in 2023.

He, therefore, prayed the court to strike out the suit for lack of diligent prosecution.

However, Justice Faji, after hearing the EFCC counsel’s submission, struck out the suit for lack of diligent prosecution.