S’court dismisses Rivers’ suit against EFCC probe of Odili, orders return to appeal court

The supreme court has dismissed two appeals by the Rivers’ attorney-general and the speaker of the house of assembly seeking to set aside the leave granted to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to challenge an order prohibiting the investigation of Peter Odili’s tenure as governor of the state.

In 2007, Odili got a court injunction preventing the EFCC from investigating or arresting him.

Odili was the governor of Rivers state when Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999. He was elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and served two terms until 2007.

The court order also restrained the anti-graft agency from probing the finances of the Rivers state government when Odili was the governor.

However, the EFCC sought leave (permission) from the court of appeal to challenge the federal high court’s ruling beyond the stipulated time.

The appellate court granted the request, prompting the Rivers state attorney-general and the speaker of the state assembly to escalate the matter to the supreme court.

At the Monday hearing for the appeal marked SC/CV/318/2018, a five-member panel of the apex court led by John Okoro sought clarity on the case’s substance.

I. A. Somiari, the appellant’s lawyer, told the panel that the matter was an interlocutory appeal challenging the court of appeal’s decision to grant the EFCC leave to appeal the 2007 orders issued by the federal high court.

But Okoro injected without letting Somiari fully outline the appeal’s relevance, stating, “This is not the type of appeal we hear here.”

He advised all parties to return to the court of appeal to have the substantive appeal heard before proceeding to the supreme court.

Acknowledging the court’s position, Somiari applied to withdraw the appeal.

Abubakar Mahmud, the EFCC’s representative, Sylvanus Tahir and B. O. Obialo, representing other respondents, did not oppose the application.

The court ruled that the “appeal is dismissed, having been withdrawn without any objection.”

A similar approach was taken with appeal SC/CV/447/2018, filed by the speaker of the Rivers state house of assembly.