Court okays suits seeking to sack EFCC chairman, Olukoyede
Olanipekun Olukoyede, the recently appointed chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), is the target of two different lawsuits that the Federal High Court has admitted.
The lawsuits were brought by attorneys Maxwell Opara and Stanley Okawara.
Defendants included the EFCC, President Bola Tinubu, and Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The lawsuits were brought by attorneys Maxwell Opara and Stanley Okawara.
Defendants included the EFCC, President Bola Tinubu, and Senate President Godswill Akpabio.
The first suit, marked FHC/KN/CS/280/202, was lodged before a Federal High Court sitting in Kano State, while the second suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1410/2023, is currently pending before the the Abuja Federal High Court.
The plaintiffs are praying the court to determine “whether having regard to the combined provisions of Section 1(1), 1 (2) and (3), 4 and 15(5) of the Amended 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Section 2 (1) (a) of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act 2004, the 1st defendant (Tinubu) is possessed of the constitutional powers to appoint anyone who is not a serving or retired member of any government security or law enforcement agency not below the rank of Assistant Commissioner of Police or equivalent to the position of the chairman of the 3rd defendant (EFCC)”.
In the meantime, a notice motion to prevent the EFCC chairman from using his official authority has been scheduled for October 30 by Justice Abdullahi Liman of the Kano Federal High Court.
The plaintiff was also ordered by the court to file a lawsuit against Olukoyede, the chairman of the EFCC, and Muhammad Hammajoda, the secretary of the commission, as the fourth and fifth defendants, respectively.
