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The Supreme Court will provide a significant decision today on the legitimacy of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in response to a case brought by 16 state governments.
These states dispute the anti-graft agency’s laws’ constitutional foundation.
With major ramifications for the EFCC’s activities nationwide, this judgement is anxiously awaited by the state governors as well as the agency itself.
In the case of Dr. Joseph Nwobike vs. the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the Supreme Court previously ruled that the EFCC Establishment Act was derived from a United Nations Convention against corruption. This ruling is the source of the argument.
The state governments contend that Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, which mandates that any international convention be accepted by a majority of state assembly before being domesticated into Nigerian law, was broken when the EFCC statute was enacted in 2004.
According to this case, which was started by Kogi State and is being supported by states including Ondo, Edo, and Oyo, among others, the EFCC’s existing structure makes it unlawful to function in states that did not ratify the convention.
They contend that as a result, any EFCC operations in these states are unlawful.
The suit will be decided by the seven-member panel, which is chaired by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji.
Regarding the defence, the EFCC voiced worries that entities impacted by its anti-corruption policies are the ones posing a threat to its framework.
In a recent interview with Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC’s Director of Public Affairs, underlined the importance of the commission’s role in fighting corruption.
Uwujaren said, “We are shocked by what is happening. Nigerians should see through this shenanigan and oppose it because I don’t see how this country can survive without the EFCC, given the kind of corruption problem that we have. Nigeria cannot do without the EFCC.
“I am worried that, with the kind of problem we have with corruption in this country, some people would go to court to challenge the legality of the EFCC.
“For citizens in their states, I am not sure that the EFCC is their greatest problem. I doubt that this is the case. What you see playing out is simply people who are feeling the heat of the work of the EFCC and who want to derail what is going on within the EFCC.
“They see the EFCC as a threat, which is what is playing out. I think Nigerians can see through the gimmick of those who are behind the challenge to the legality of the commission.”
Those who called for the reform were aiming to “derail” the commission’s anti-corruption efforts, the EFCC official said.
“So, people who are concerned about transparency and accountability will wish for the EFCC to be ‘killed’. Let me use the word ‘killed’ because that is the agenda.
“They simply want to derail the fight against corruption because they don’t want accountability in their domains,” he said.