A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos on Wednesday, struck out an interim order obtained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the forfeiture 14 properties allegedly linked to Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.
While delivering the ruling, Justice Nicholas Oweibo, struck out the suit on the ground that Section 308 of the 1999 Constitution prevented the Commission from instituting any criminal or civil case against a sitting Governor or the President.
Justice Oweibo also held that given Section 308 of the Constitution, which provides immunity to a sitting governor from any civil/criminal prosecution, the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The judge had, in a judgement on February 22, granted the prayers of the anti-graft agency with a temporary forfeiture order following an exparte motion it filed seeking to seize the properties located in Lagos, Abuja and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as well as N400m recovered from one Aminu Falala said to be an agent to Bello.
But in a counter motion, Bello, through his lawyer, Abdulwahab Mohammed (SAN), filed a ‘Notice of Intention’ to oppose the ruling and an application seeking the vacation of the interim forfeiture order.
The Kogi Governor had premised his application on the ground that the property listed were not proceeds of unlawful act, as they were acquired long before he was elected Governor and could not have been acquired from Kogi State funds.
He also protested the illegality in the filing of the suit by the EFCC on the ground that the case was in disobedience to an earlier ruling by a Kogi State high court which restrained the EFCC from investigating any account of the state government pending the determination of the Motion on Notice.
