LAGOS (Sundiata Post) – Amid the controversial calls to scrap the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has said that the anti-graft agency and other such institutions in the country have come to stay.
Falana, who was a guest on Sunday Politics, said rather than challenging the legality of EFCC, what should be demanded are measures to ensure that the body is not under the government’s control.
“For me, the ICPC and the EFCC like the Code of Conduct Tribunal have come to stay. What we should be demanding are measures to make these institutions autonomous, not under the control of any government,” Falana said on the programme.
“And the Supreme Court has maintained rather repeatedly concerning the EFCC and EFCC; that these are common, they shouldn’t be under the control of the Federal Government.
“They are common agencies to fight economic crimes in our country, to fight financial crimes in our country, to fight corruption in our country.”
The Senior Advocate insisted that the EFCC and ICPC were both established in pursuance of the duty imposed on the Nigerian state under Section 15, Sub-Section 5 of the Constitution.
Govs’ suit against EFCC
Sixteen state governors filed a suit challenging the legality of the laws establishing the EFCC. On Wednesday, the apex court fixed October 22 to hear a suit.
A seven-man panel of justice, led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, fixed the date after the states were joined as co-plaintiffs and leave granted for consolidation of the case in the suit originally filed by the Kogi State Government through its Attorney General.
The states that joined in the suit include Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Nassarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Enugu, Benue, Anambra, Plateau, Cross-River and Niger.
The 16 states are relying on the fact that the Constitution is the supreme law and that any law that is inconsistent with it is null and void.
Also, in two separate letters to the Senate and House of Representatives, dated October 14, 2024, the renowned lawyer, Olisa Agbakoba, said the EFCC was an unlawful organisation, which he believed was “unconstitutionally established”.
“I very strongly believe the EFCC is unconstitutionally established. The powers under which it was established go beyond the powers of the National Assembly. The EFCC is an unlawful organization,” Agbakoba, the former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), said.
Agbakoba noted that he was delighted to note that many states had finally taken it upon themselves to challenge the constitutionality of the EFCC, saying, “This will put to rest the question relating to the validity of the EFCC.”
