Court of Appeal ruling dangerous, ridiculous, EFCC says; vows to appeal

The anti-graft agency, EFCC, has described a ruling by the Court of Appeal in Lagos as a “dangerous precedent.”

PREMIUM TIMES reported how the appeal court ruled on Monday that the EFCC lacked the powers to prosecute serving judges until they are dismissed by the National Judicial Council, NJC.

In a statement by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, the EFCC vowed to appeal the ruling at the Supreme Court.

“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, is to appeal against the ruling of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which today held that the agency lacked powers to investigate or prosecute serving judicial officials except where such officers have been dismissed by the National Judicial Council.

“The Commission considers the ruling a dangerous precedent that has no basis in law and, is confident that the Supreme Court will upturn the judgment.

“Criminal trial takes precedence over administrative procedures and it is strange that the Court of Appeal wants to put the cart before the horse. This is ridiculous! The appellate court simply wants to confer immunity on public officers from prosecution for corruption, it will not stand,” Mr. Uwujaren said.

Details later…

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Ben Ezeamalu

Ben Ezeamalu is an Assistant Managing Editor and the Head of Lagos Operations/Metro Editor at PREMIUM TIMES. A graduate of Microbiology from the University of Jos, Ben won the 2015 Africa Fact-Check Awards and was a runner-up in the 2014 CNN/Multichoice African Journalists of the Year.

Twitter: @callmebenfigo.

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