Contempt: Again, court commits EFCC boss, to prison
Abdulrasheed Bawa, the head of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has been sent to prison for allegedly not following a court order.
The court also told the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Baba, to arrest Bawa and put him in Kuje prison for 14 days, until he apologizes for his disrespect.
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Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court ruled on Monday that the EFCC chairman should be sent to prison for not following a court order from November 30, 2022. In that order, the EFCC chairman was told to bring the applicant in the case, Ali Bello, to court.
Ali Bello took Bawa to court for illegally arresting and holding him, and the court ruled in his favour. However, three days after the ruling, the EFCC charged him with money laundering.
The EFCC’s requests to overturn the ruling and stop it from being carried out were turned down because they didn’t have a good reason to do so.
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,” the Court asked the EFCC Chairman to come before it on January 18, 2022 to explain why he shouldn’t go to jail for ignoring 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.
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The court said that the motion of notice and Form 49 should be sent to the EFCC and Bawa by a different method.
The court said that the applicant’s arrest and detention in spite of an existing court order from a court of competent jurisdiction and without a warrant of arrest “or being told of the offence for which he was arrested” was illegal, unconstitutional, and a violation of the personal liberty and dignity of the human person guaranteed by Chapter IV of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999. (as amended).
He also told the defendants to apologize to the plaintiff in a national newspaper and gave him N10 million in compensation.
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