The Kogi State High Court convicted Abdulrasheed Bawa guilty of contempt on Monday, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to halt the detention and imprisonment of Bawa.
Along with an appeal against the Kogi State High Court’s conviction of its chairman, the commission also filed a plea for a stay of execution in Lokoja.
The court sentenced Bawa to 14 days at the Kuje jail in Abuja after finding him guilty of contempt.
Rukayat Ayoola, the trial judge, commanded the Inspector-General of Police to detain the head of the EFCC “until he purges himself of the contempt” and order his arrest.
The Court’s decision was based on an appeal submitted by Ali Bello, a defendant who is standing trial on corruption-related allegations and the nephew of Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello.
In its appeal, the anti-graft organization pleaded with the Court of Appeal to halt the chairman’s detention and imprisonment.
To prevent any attempt to “execute/enforce the judgment of the trial Court pending the final hearing and determination of the appeal,” it specifically asks for “an order of interlocutory injunction.”
In defiance of an earlier court order issued on December 12, 2022, Bello accused the EFCC chairman of moving forward with his arraignment on December 15, 2022.
In the aforementioned 12 December 2022 ruling, the court determined that Bello’s arrest and detention by the EFCC and its chair on November 29, 2022, in defiance of an earlier, still-standing court order, without a warrant of arrest or prior notice of the crime for which he was being held, was illegal and unconstitutional.
However, the EFCC had proceeded to charge Mr. Bello on December 15 with N10 billion in fraud before the Federal High Court in Abuja; the accused thereafter objected to the Kogi State High Court that this move was disrespectful of the judgement from December 12, 2022.
Samuel Ugwuegbulam, a commission official who testified in the affidavit of support, stated that the commission has “strong, good, and arguable grounds of appeal.”
Because the claimed violation of the respondent’s fundamental human rights allegedly took place in Abuja and not Lokoja, he asserted that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to continue with the lawsuit’s hearing.
He also emphasized that although the appellant had asked the trial court to compile and transmit the record of appeal, as of the time the motion was filed, the file had not yet been opened, preventing transmission of the record to the appellate court’s registry.
“The Appellants/Applicants’ constitutional right of appeal and the exercise of his statutory functions will be jeopardized if the execution/enforcement of the judgment of the 12 December, 2022 and the pronouncement of the trial Court of the 6 February, 2023 is not stayed.”
