Court adjourns Saraki’s suit against EFCC, ICPC, others
The Abuja Division of the Federal High Court (FHC) on Tuesday, adjourned two separate suits filed by former Senate President Bukola Saraki against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and others.
Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a short ruling, said the adjournment was to await the report of the Court of Appeal on the application for a stay of proceedings filed by the ex-lawmaker.
Upon resumed hearing, Mr Saraki’s lawyer, Tunde Afe-Babalola, SAN, informed that he had a pending application for a stay of proceedings filed on July 30, 2021.
Mr Afe-Babalola said all the parties had been served and were ready to proceed.
The judge then asked whether the motion for relisting had been taken.
“Yes, we filed a stay at the Court of Appeal,” he responded.
But the EFCC’s counsel, Christopher Mshelia, who said he was unsure if the commission had been served, stated he was not ready for the day’s hearing.
Ekenma Okafor, who appeared for the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB), said his client had yet to be served.
“I remember on one of the sittings, the counsel appearing for the applicant had given the court his word that he was withdrawing their appeal.
“We are surprised with this development,” Mr Okafor said.
Mr Afe-Babalola, who said he was unaware of Mr Okafor’s information, stated that the important thing was that the motion was pending.
The judge asked, “If you had filed a stay at the Court of Appeal, why did you also file a stay here?
“If I grant you stay here, have I not done their duty at the Court of Appeal?”
Justice Ekwo, therefore, said he would give Mr Afe-Babalola a date to enable him to sort himself out at the Court of Appeal and report back.
The matter was then adjourned until April 18 for a report of proceedings at the Court of Appeal.
Justice Ekwo had, on January 25, 2023, struck out the suits for lack of diligent prosecution. Mr Saraki then filed an application to relist the cases.
The motion on notice seeking an order of relisting the suits was dated February 1, 2023, and filed February 3, 2023, by Sunday Onubi from Afe Babalola & Co Law Firm.
Mr Saraki, the applicant, had filed the suits marked FHC/ABJ/CS/507/2019 and FHC/ABJ/CS/508/2019 at the FHC.
In the suits, the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Inspector-General of Police and State Security Service (SSS) are the first to third defendants.
Others are EFCC, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and CCB as fourth to sixth respondents, respectively.
The ex-Senate president had filed the suits following the EFCC’s decision in 2019 to probe his earnings between 2003 and 2011 when he was governor of Kwara.
The anti-graft commission was reported to have seized some of his houses in the Ikoyi area of Lagos then.
However, Mr Saraki, on May 10, 2019, filed the two separate suits before retired Justice Taiwo Taiwo to challenge the action of the EFCC.
(NAN)
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