Olanipekun: Why IGP must obey court order to remand EFCC chair over contempt

Wole Olanipekun, a senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), has asked Usman Alkali Baba, the inspector-general of police (IGP), to comply with court orders seeking the remand of Abdulrasheed Bawa for contempt.

On Monday, a high court sitting in Kogi state ordered the remand of Bawa, chairperson of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

R.O. Ayoola, the presiding judge, ordered the inspector-general of police (IGP) to ensure the committal order is executed, just as he awarded N10 million against the EFCC.

He ordered that Bawa should be arrested and sent to the Kuje correctional centre for two weeks without any delay.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Olanipekun said no Nigerian or foreigner, no matter how highly placed, should be allowed to rubbish the courts.

“In fact, the higher the position you occupy, the greater the burden of responsibility on you to show a good example and live within the ambit of the law,” Olanipekun said.

“Nobody, nobody at all, no matter how highly placed, no matter the position you occupy, not even the President of Nigeria, can disobey a court order.

“The inspector-general of police is going to carry out that order; he is going to go to prison or at the earliest time possible, he goes back to that court to go and purge himself of the contempt. All he has to do is to go and release that particular citizen and if there are other orders that the court has made, like in this particular case, the court has made an order for an apology to the citizen for so detaining him in flagrant breach of his fundamental human rights.

“So, he has to go ahead and make that apology. We must comply with the law. We must realise that this is a Federal Republic of Nigeria, a country that is founded on law, on procedure, on rule of law.

“Over the years, EFCC had been having a running battle with the law. We must realise that Section 34, in fact, the entire chapter 4 has to do with the fundamental human rights of Nigerians, and this is the area where EFCC always has problems. Section 34 talks about the dignity of the Nigerian person. You don’t just treat people anyhow. The fact that somebody has a case doesn’t mean he has lost his citizenship.

“There is a presumption of innocence, not only when you are taken to court, but it also applies when you are being investigated. The degree of innocence when being investigated is even higher than when taken to court. A man has his right to a fair hearing.”