Again Court Orders IGP To Arrest EFCC Chairman, Remand Him In Kuje Prison

Abdulrasheed Bawa, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has been ordered to be remanded in prison for 14 days.

In a sitting presided over by Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court, on Monday, the court granted the application for committal to prison of the EFCC chairman.

Bawa was remanded for disobeying a court ruling delivered earlier on November 30, 2022, reports The Punch.

The EFCC chairman had been directed to produce the applicant in the case, Ali Bello.

Ali Bello was said to have dragged the EFCC boss to court for arresting and detaining him illegally even when the court ruled in his favour.

According to him, the EFCC still went ahead and arraigned him for money laundering three days after the ruling.

The Commission then filed an application to set aside the stay of execution of the ruling, but it was refused for want of merit.

The Court had, in Form 49, Order IX, Rule 13, marked, “HCL/697M/2022” and titled, “Notice to Show Cause Why Order of Committal Should not be Made,” asked the EFCC Chairman to appear before it on January 18, 2022, to explain why he should not be jailed for flouting the order given on December 12, 2022, in a case filed by Ali Bello against the EFCC and Bawa, as the 1st and 2nd respondents, respectively.

The court ordered that the EFCC and Bawa be served the motion of notice together with Form 49 by substituted means.

The court then declared the arrest and detention of the applicant in the face of a subsisting court order made by a court of competent jurisdiction and without a warrant of arrest “or being informed of the offense for which he was arrested” as unlawful.

It was also described as unconstitutional and in contravention of the personal liberty and dignity of the human person, guaranteed under Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).

The court had, therefore, ordered the respondents to tender an apology to the applicant in a national newspaper and awarded N10 million compensation for him.

However, when the respondent (Bawa) failed to fulfill these conditions, the court directed the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to effect Bawa’s arrest and remand him in Kuje prison for the next 14 days until he purges himself of the contempt.

A Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court had similarly ordered Bawa’s remand in November 2022 for contempt.