Yahaya Bello: Court orders EFCC Chairman to appear before it for Contempt of Court

Ola Olukoyede, the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, has been ordered by a Kogi State High Court in Lokoja to appear in court on May 13, 2024, to provide justification for not having an order of committal placed against him for allegedly defying a court order.

In the interim until the outcome of the substantive Originating Motion is determined, the EFCC chairman can be charged with contempt for performing “some acts upon which they (the EFCC) have been restrained” by the Court on February 9, 2024.

Justice I. A. Jamil, delivering a ruling in Suit No: HCL/68M/2024 and Motion No: HCL/190M/2024, held that “the said act was carried out by the Respondent (EFCC) in violation of the order, which was valid and subsisting when they carried out the act. That same act of the Respondent amounts to Contempt”.

On April 17, 2024, at 8 a.m., EFCC agents besieged the home of Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the former governor of Kogi State, in an attempt to take him into custody. This was done in defiance of a court order prohibiting them from doing so until the Originating Motion was resolved.

The basis for Justice Jamil’s ruling was a motion ex-parte that Yahaya Bello filed through M.S. Yusuf, Esq., his attorney, asking the court to grant him permission to serve the Respondent (EFCC Chairman) with a Form 49 Notice asking him to explain why an order of committal on Olukoyede should not be made.

Judge Jamil approved Yahaya Bello’s requests after hearing the arguments made by the applicant’s attorney and reviewing the written address’s submission and evidence. He also directed that Olukoyede be called before the court to address the contempt allegation.

“The applicant’s application before me is to the effect that the Respondent has carried out some acts upon which they have been restrained by this Court on the 9th of February, 2024, pending the determination of the substantive motion on Notice before this Court,” Justice Jamil stated in his ruling on the motion on April 25, 2024.

“That the said act was carried out by the Respondent in violation of the order which was valid and subsisting when they carried out those acts. That same acts of the Respondent amounts to acts of contempt.

“That the Respondent should be summoned to appear before this Court to answer to the contempt charge.
“It’s against the above facts that this Court hereby grants the prayers sought in line with the principle of “Audi Ultra Patem”. To wit:

“An order of this Honourable Court for the issuance of Form 49 Notice to show cause why order of committal should not be made against the Executive Chairman of the Respondent – Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

“An order for service of Form 49-Notice to show why order of committal should not be made on the Executive Chairman of the Respondent – Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at EFCC Corporate Headquarters, Plot 301/302, Research and Institution District, Abuja.

“This matter is adjourned to the 13th of May, 2024 for the Respondent’s Chairman to appear before this Court in answer to form 49 ordered to be served on him.”