The Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission (EFCC) says it re-arrested Rita Ofili-Ajumogobia, a former judge of
the federal high court, in order to file a fresh criminal charge against her.
Ofili-Ajumogobia was surrounded
by operatives of the commission at the court premises on Tuesday after Hakeem
Oshodi, judge of a Lagos high court, struck out corruption charges against her.
In his ruling, Oshodi struck out
the 31-count charge bordering on an alleged perversion of the course of
justice, unlawful enrichment and forgery filed by the EFCC against
Ofili-Ajumogobia and Godwin Obla, on the grounds that the court lacked
jurisdiction to hear the suit.
The judge also said the EFCC did
not follow the procedures set by the National Judicial Council (NJC) in disciplining
erring judicial officers
Oshodi ruled that based on the
judicial precedent set by the case of Nganjiwa V. FRN, the high court lacked
jurisdiction to hear the suit as the EFCC “jumped the gun” in filing the first
amended charge.
“As at Monday, December 11, 2017,
the EFCC was aware of the decision reached by the court of appeal in Nganjiwa
vs FRN,” the judge said.
“As at that date, the amended
information was yet to be filed and the 12 prosecution witness was still giving
evidence.”
However, in a statement on
Tuesday, Tony Orilade, EFCC’s spokesperson, said in view of Oshodi’s ruling and
having complied with the NJC procedure, the commission is set to prefer fresh
criminal charges against the 59-year-old judge.
“The Commission re-arrested Ofili-Ajumogobia
in line with the decision of the Appeal Court, Lagos Division, in a case
involving Justice Hyeladzira Nganjiwa, where it said that a judge could not be
prosecuted until he or she had either been dismissed or compulsorily retired by
the National Judicial Council, NJC,” the statement read.
“Consequent upon the fact that
the Commission had presented Justice Ofili-Ajumogobia before the NJC for
disciplinary action and that the NJC had taken a position, the Commission would
now approach the court to prefer fresh charges her.”
In October 2018, the NJC
recommended Ofili-Ajumogobia’s dismissal over misconduct and money-laundering.
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com