By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
The acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mohammed Umar Abba, has said that
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) secured 865 convictions from a total of 1,305 cases it filed in court in 2020.
Also, 7,340 cases out of 10,152 petitions received by EFCC are under investigation.
The acting chairman of EFCC Mohammed Umar Abba made the disclosure while reviewing the activities/ performance of the Commission in year 2020.
He commended the staff of the Commission for their dedication, hard work and sacrifices in the discharge of their duties, which contributed to the achievement recorded in 2020.
Abba described year 2020 as “unique for obvious reasons”. He said that the Commission’s projections anchored on a strategic vision were greatly slowed down by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said, “The lockdown enforced as part of measures to stem the spread of the deadly virus precipitated a scale down of our operations.
“For more than five months, activities were at the lowest ebb in our 17-year history as an institution.
“Also, a reform process that witnessed a change in the leadership of the Commission naturally created anxiety among critical stakeholders.”
However, the Anti-graft agency acting boss said that the Commission, in spite of the overwhelming odds, was still able to achieve significant milestones across the spectrum of its work.
He further expressed the desire to make the Commission more effective through expansion of its activities, strengthening existing collaborations with other law enforcement agencies, building new linkages with relevant stakeholders and improving on its processes and procedures.
The EFCC boss, who reassured staff of management’s commitment to their welfare at all times in order to ensure greater performance, said, “As a dynamic and responsive organisation, we will continually engage staff and review policies to motivate all for greater performance.
“ I am confident that we can face the future together.
“My faith is premised on our collective strength to uphold the oath which we took to rid Nigeria of corruption.
“No adversity can shake this faith, as we look to the future with renewed zeal, holding aloft the blazing flame of anti-corruption.“
Consequently, he charged the staff to be more committed to the anti-graft campaign, adding that “if the EFCC fails, the fight against corruption in Nigeria is imperiled.”
Celebrated cases decided in 2020
In same vein, some high profile cases were decided by various court’s of the land in 2020.Some of these cases decided in 2020 include Senator Orji Uzor Kali, Abdullahi Babalele, Olisa Metu, Ismailia (Mompha) just to mention but a fewSenator Orji Kalu
Orji Uzor Kalu, who held sway as Abia State governor from 1999 to 2007, was earlier found guilty and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by the Lagos division of the court presided over by Justice Mohammed Idris of then Federal High Court (now Court of Appeal judge)
The trial court convicted the former governor alongside his firm, Slok Nigeria Limited and a former Director of Finance in Abia State, Jones Udeogu, for allegedly stealing about N7.1 billion from the state treasury.
However, the Supreme Court, in its judgement on May 8, 2020 quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial of the defendants by the EFCC. In a unanimous decision by a seven-man panel of Justices, the Supreme Court, nullified the entire proceedings that led to Kalu’s conviction, stressing that the trial judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, was already elevated to the Court of Appeal, as at the time he sat and delivered a judgement against the defendants.
It held that Justice Idris was no longer a judge of the Federal High Court as at December 5, 2019, the day the former governor and his co-defendants were found guilty of the money laundering charge.
According to the Supreme Court, Justice Idris, having been elevated to the Court of Appeal before then, lacked the powers to return to sit as a High Court Judge. It held that the Fiat that was issued to him by the Court of Appeal President pursuant to Section 396(7) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, (ACJA, 2015), was unconstitutional.
It therefore ordered that the charge in suit No. FHC/ABJ/CR/26/2017, which EFCC entered against Kalu and his co-defendants, should be remitted back to Chief Judge of the Federal High Court for re-assignment to any other judge for the trial to commence de-novo (afresh).Abdullahi Babalele’s no case submission’ upheld
Justice Chukwujekwu Aneke of the Federal High Court, Lagos judicial division struck out the fraud charge proffered by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) against Abdullahi Babalele, the son-in-law to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar for being defective and disclosing no prima facie case.
The judge while raising the issue of jurisdiction in his ruling, held that EFCC went forum-shopping when it filed the case at the Federal High Court, Lagos, instead of Abeokuta where the offence of alleged payment of the sum of $140,000.00 was said to have been committed .
The court also held that the proper venue for the trial should have been at Abeokuta and not Lagos.
The judge held that in the event that he was wrong on this score, and that it had jurisdiction to entertain the case, the No case submission filed and argued by the Babalele ‘s counsel, Chief Mike Ozekhome, (SAN), succeeds in its entirety on the grounds that the prosecution failed woefully to prove any element of the offence charged, or adduce any evidence linking the defendant with the offence charged .
The court therefore held that the charge filed by EFCC against the defendant was incompetent as the charge alleged that it was the defendant (Babalele) that procured and aided PW1 to make the said payment, without any scintilla of evidence to proof same.
“There was no evidence linking the said money transferred to PW1 to any illicit transaction which is one of the cardinal grounds for a money laundering charge to be sustained”.
Consequently the defendant Babalele was discharged and acquitted by the court.
Olisa Metu’s appeal succeeds
Olisa Metu, the former publicity secretary of Nigeria’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Pary (PDP) was convicted and sentenced to 7 years imprisonment by Justice Okon Abang of Abuja division of the Federal High Court over alleged N400 million money laundering.However the Supreme Court of Nigeria in a judgement delivered in December on the appeal filed by Metu, nullified the conviction and sentence.The Supreme Court held that the trial judge at the Federal High Court, Abuja Justice Okon Abang was biased while presiding over the alleged fraud case against Metu.Consequently, the Supreme Court ordered that Olisa Metu be released from where he was serving the jail term.However, EFCC has the opportunity of trying him before another judge.