A legal activist and constitutional lawyer, Wilfred Molokun, has asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, to quit the incessant media trials of immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello.
Molokun said the anti-graft agency in an attempt to arrest and arraign Bello has engaged in a media trial.
According to him, it is absurd for an agency charged with responsibility for the enforcement of all economic and financial crimes laws to throw overboard the rule of law in its desperation to “persecute, prosecute and humiliate a former governor”.
Molokun made the call while fielding questions on the judgment of Kogi State High Court delivered on April 17 , 2024 by Justice Isa Jamil Abdullahi, who granted an order restraining the EFCC “from continuing to harass, threaten to arrest or detain” Bello based on the criminal charges now pending before the federal high court in Abuja.
He said decorum and decency should be the order of the day, stressing that EFCC should allow the trial court judge of the Federal High Court who is seized of the matter to make a ruling on Bello application seeking to vacate the warrant of arrest, essentially as the court has now been adequately addressed by both parties on the issues.
The legal luminary added that the rule of law should reign supreme in the conduct of citizens including corporate bodies like EFCC.
Recall that the Federal High Court had fixed May 10 for ruling on Yahaya Bello’s application seeking to vacate the arrest warrant made on April 17, 2024.
Bello’s application was argued on April 23, 2024 before justice Emeka Nwite by Adeola Adedipe, SAN, while Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, who represented the EFCC vehemently opposed it.
In his argument, Adedipe had pointed out the need for the court to set aside the arrest warrant.
According to the Senior Advocate, the arrest warrant order, having been made before the charge ought to be set aside suo motu (on its own accord, without any request by the parties involved).
Particularly, as the agency had on April 18, made an application for a substituted service of its bundles of charge and proof of evidence against Bello after the ex-governor’s lead lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, declined to receive the documents in the open court.
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