A Federal High Court in Abuja has struck out a suit seeking to stop the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from arresting the current Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the end of his tenure.
The case was reportedly dismissed by the presiding judge, Joyce Abdulmalik, on the 31st of October after the counsel to Sanwo-Olu, Gbenga Femi Akande, moved a motion to discontinue the suit.
The dismissed suit was however not communicated to the EFCC as Hadiza Afegbua, counsel for the EFCC, appeared in court on Tuesday expecting the case to be heard, only to discover that it had been struck out weeks earlier.
According to the enrolled order dated October 31, only Akande, Sanwo-Olu’s counsel, was present during the proceedings that led to the dismissal.
Background
A lawsuit was filed in October on Sanwo-Olu’s behalf against the EFCC for allegedly planning to arrest and prosecute him following a court hearing on his term.
The lawsuit was brought by attorney Darlington Ozurumba on behalf of the Lagos governor, who will finish his eight-year term on May 29, 2027.
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”.
The suit sought an order to restrain the EFCC from harassing, intimidating, arresting, detaining, interrogating, or prosecuting Sanwo-Olu in connection with his tenure as the governor of Lagos state.
Reacting to the suit, the Lagos government said Sanwo-Olu had not instructed anyone to file a case against the EFCC.
The Lagos attorney-general, Lawal Pedro, said the state will investigate “how the case came to be without the knowledge” of the governor.
Pedro said neither the governor nor his aides are under investigation by the EFCC, adding that there is no threat of arrest by the anti-graft agency.
In a counter affidavit, Ufuoma Ezire, a superintendent and litigation secretary in the legal and prosecution department of the anti graft agency, said the EFCC is not investigating the governor and has never threatened to arrest him or his staff.
The anti-graft agency described the legal action as speculative and a “mere conjecture”.
