By Publisher
Kindly share:
The Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit by Governor Sanwoolu Babajide Sanwo-Olu, of Lagos State seeking to bar the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, from arresting him after leaving office.
Joyce Abdulmalik, who presided over the suit, dismissed it, following a motion by Gbenga Akande, the governor’s counsel to discontinue the case.In the suit, the lawyer argued that the alleged plan to arrest Sanwo-Olu is “unconstitutional and a flagrant violation of his fundamental right to personal liberty and freedom of movement as stipulated under sections 35(1) & (4) and 41(1) of the constitution”.
Therefore, it sought an order of the court to forbid the EFCC to arrest or prosecute Sanwo-Olu in connection with his activities in office as the Lagos State governor.
However, the Lagos government had said that Sanwo-Olu did not instruct anyone to file a case against the EFCC.Mr Lawal Pedro, SAN, the State Attorney-General, posited that the government would probe how the case was filed without the governor’s knowledge.
He added that the governor and his aides are not being investigated or threatened with arrest by the EFCC.
This was collaborated in a counter affidavit by Ufuoma Ezire, a superintendent and litigation secretary in the legal and prosecution department of the anti-graft agency, who confirmed that the EFCC is not investigating the governor and has never threatened to arrest him or his staff.
Hadiza Afegbua, counsel of the EFCC, appeared in court for the case for the proceedings was disappointed that the case was not among the 10 listed for hearing at the court.
She reportedly expressed surprise on hearing that the suit had since been dismissed on October 31.
