Justice
Ahmed Ramat Mohammed of the Federal High Court sitting Abuja has slated May 9,
2018, to decide whether or not to stop the Nigerian Police Force, the Economic
and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the State Security Service (SSS)
from investigating governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
Wike had on June 5, 2017
approached the court with a suit seeking to restrain the Inspector General of
Police, the Nigeria Police Force, the EFCC, the SSS and their agents from
searching any of his houses whether in Abuja or any other part of the country.
At the resumed hearing of the
matter yesterday, Wike’s counsel, Sylva Ogwemoh (SAN) told the court that what
his client is seeking is the interpretation of Section 308 of the Constitution
as it relates to search warrant.
He said, “A search warrant is undoubtedly
a process of the court and if that is the case, there is a breach of the
absolute immunity that Section 308 confers on the plaintiff (Wike).”
Ogwemoh argued that the section
provided that a search warrant required the appearance of the plaintiff who had
immunity at the property to be searched and further submitted that the
submission by the counsel to the Police that it had the discretion to search
his house in his absence was against the law.
He said, since Wike is only
seeking an interpretation to the law, there was no need to attach a warrant to
the application.
Counsel to the IGP, David Igbodo,
in his opposition to the application, prayed the court to dismiss it on the
grounds that it was mere speculations and added that, “The application is
speculative because, in the first instance, there is no search warrant attached
to it.
“The only exhibit attached is the
interview granted by Wike himself in which he made allegations that the police
wants to search his house in Abuja.
“He made the allegation but he
did not attach the search warrant to prove it. Assuming without conceding that
the police obtained a search warrant to search the Rivers governor’s house in
Abuja, the question is, can the police execute the search warrant without
requiring his presence?
“The question has been answered
by the Supreme Court and the answer is yes, the police can effectively do that
without requiring his presence, so, the government house of Rivers in Abuja can
be searched without the governor’s presence as there are security men there
that can witness the search.”
Igbodo further submitted that the
law allowed the police to gather evidence and investigate officials who had
immunity, adding that a search warrant was a process of obtaining evidence
during the investigation.
After listening to the
submissions of the counsel, Justice Mohammed reserved judgment in the matter
till May 9, 2018.
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