The Anambra State Government has decided to withdraw from a lawsuit aimed at declaring the operations of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) illegal.
In a notice submitted to the Supreme Court, Anambra’s Attorney General, Prof. Sylvia Ifemeje, stated that the state no longer wishes to be involved in the legal action originally initiated by Kogi State. The withdrawal notice was dated October 21st, 2024.
This announcement coincided with Osun State’s request to consolidate its grievances against the EFCC with those of Kogi State. Osun’s Attorney General, Mr. Oluwole Bada, informed a seven-member panel led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji that Osun seeks the same reliefs as Kogi in this matter.
While Sokoto State, previously a co-plaintiff, did not send a representative to the proceedings on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024, other states present included Kogi, Kebbi, Katsina, Jigawa, Oyo, Benue, Plateau, Cross River, Ondo, Niger, Edo, and Bauchi, along with Adamawa, Taraba, Ebonyi, Imo, and Nasarawa.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, appeared as the sole defendant in the case and did not oppose Anambra’s withdrawal. It’s worth noting that 16 states had approached the Supreme Court to challenge the EFCC’s operations.
The states are contending that the anti-graft agency was not validly established by the then administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo.
It will be recalled that the EFCC was established by an Act of the National Assembly on December 12, 2002, by Obasanjo’s administration.
Following the appointment and confirmation of its pioneer Executive Chairman, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and other administrative officers, by the Senate, the Commission commenced its operational activities on April 13, 2003, though its Establishment Act was later amended in 2004.
However, in the suit before the apex court, the states, through their respective Attorneys General, argued that section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was not complied with before the EFCC began its operations.
According to the plaintiffs, it was a mandatory provision of the Constitution that majority of the Houses of Assembly of States must vote and agree to the passage of the EFCC Act, insisting that it was not something that only the National Assembly was legally allowed to do.
They told the Supreme Court that none of the states was carried along before the EFCC was established by the then President Obasanjo’s administration.
They argued that the Supreme Court had in a decided case-law in Dr. Joseph Nwobike Vs Federal Republic of Nigeria, held that it was a United Nation Convention against corruption that was reduced into the EFCC Establishment Act and that in enacting this law in 2004, the provision of Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was not followed.
The plaintiffs maintained that since the due process was not followed before the EFCC Establishment Act was enacted, it cannot be applicable in states that never approved of it, in accordance with provisions of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.
They argued that any agency that was formed as a result of the Act, ought to be regarded as an illegal institution.
The 16 states are relying on the fact that since the 1999 Constitution, as amended, is the supreme law of the land, any Act of the National Assembly that is inconsistent with the Constitution, ought to be declared a nullity.
Kogi state had specifically raised six questions for the apex court to determine, even as it sought nine principal reliefs.
It, among other things, layed the Supreme Court for; “A declaration that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) or any agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria cannot investigate, requisition documents, invite and or arrest anyone with respect to offences arising from the administration and management of funds belonging to Kogi state of Nigeria or any Local Government Area of Kogi State.”
“A declaration that the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) or any agency of the Federal Government, lacks the power to issue any directive, guideline, advisory or any instrument howsoever called for the administration and management of funds belonging to Kogi State of Nigeria or any Local Government Area of Kogi state.”
