EFCC asks court to dismiss motion seeking imprisonment of Lai Mohammed

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked a federal high court to dismiss a motion filed by Nenadi Usman, ex-minister of state for finance, seeking the imprisonment of Lai Mohammed, minister of information, over alleged contempt.

The former minister, through Fedinand Orbih, her lawyer, said the inclusion of her name on the looters’ list released by Mohammed was contemptuous.

But Rotimi Oyedepo, EFCC lawyer, said the motion brought by the former minister was an abuse of court process.

Oyedepo said Mohammed did not refer to her as a looter.

He said: “The minister of information is not a party to the criminal proceedings against the applicant; there is no evidence to show that the alleged contemnor works with the various media houses that published the alleged offensive publication.

“Besides, there were no allegations against the media houses that published the alleged offensive publication.

“There was nothing that connected the ministry of information to the motion which was taken out to annoy the prosecution; the motion is lacking in substance, it is an abuse of court’s process and should be dismissed.”

Mohammed Aikawa, the presiding judge, reserved his ruling on the motion until November 16.

The former minister was arraigned for money laundering charges and is standing trial with Femi Fani -Kayode, former minister of aviation, and Yusuf Danjuma, former chairman of Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON).

In April, the minister of information had listed Usman among a 23-man looters list over an alleged N1.5bn loot.