The Federal High Court has okayed two separate suits seeking to sack the newly appointed Economic and Financial Crimes Commission chairman, EFCC, Olanipekun Olukoyede.
Legal practitioners Stanley Okawara and Maxwell Opara brought both suits before the court.
Vanguard reports that whereas the first suit, marked FHC/KN/CS/280/202, was lodged before the Division of the court in Kano State, the second suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1410/2023, is pending before the Abuja Division.
Already, Justice Abdullahi Liman of the Kano court has fixed the 30th day of October to hear a motion on notice seeking to restrain the EFCC chairman, whose appointment was confirmed by the Senate on the 12th day of October, from exercising the powers and functions of the office or drawing salaries and emoluments as an occupant of the office, pending the hearing and determination of the suit.
Though the plaintiff had, through his lawyer, Jideobi Johnmary filed an ex-parte application for the court to issue an order of interim injunction against Olukoyede, Justice Liman ordered him to go and put all the defendants on notice.
President Bola Tinubu, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the EFCC are cited as defendants in the matter.
The court directed the plaintiff to join the EFCC chairman, Olukoyede and Secretary of the Commission, Muhammad Hammajoda, as 4th and 5th defendants, respectively.
Justice Liman further permitted the plaintiff to serve a copy of the court process on President Tinubu by serving same on the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Besides, the court okayed substituted service of the suit on the Senate President through the clerk of the Senate.
It equally abridged the time within which all the defendants should enter appearance and file their respective processes to 15 days.
Specifically, the plaintiff is, among other things, praying the court to determine “whether having regard to the combined provisions of Section 1(1), 1 (2) and (3), 4 and 15(5) of the Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 2 (1) (a) of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004, the 1st defendant (Tinubu) is possessed of the constitutional powers to appoint anyone who is not a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent to the position of the chairman of the 3rd defendant?
“Whether having regard to the combined provisions of Section 1(1), 1 (2), and (3), 4 and 15(5) of the Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 2 (1) (a) of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004, the 2nd defendant (Akpabio) is possessed of the constitutional powers to receive and consider for screening and ratification by the Nigerian Senate anyone who is not a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent to the position of the Chairman of the 3rd Defendant?”.
