
The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice of Ogun State, Mr. Oluwasina Ogungbade (SAN), has condemned persistent media reports that the state is challenging the validity of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in the Supreme Court.
Ogungbade, in a statement on Monday, wondered why some sections of the media continued to include the state in the list of states in court against the EFCC.
“We have no case against the EFCC,” the commissioner said. We never filed any action against the EFCC challenging its constitutionality.
“We had only last week issued a statement to this effect clarifying that we had no suit attacking the constitutionality of the EFCC and we did not join the suit filed in the Supreme Court by some other states in that regard Were.
“We respect the decision of the states that have filed such challenges as it is their right to approach the court. This is allowed in democracy and federation.
“But the papers we filed are public documents which are open to scrutiny and therefore, I am surprised that some media outlets are still running reports in which Ogun State is one of the states challenging the existence of the EFCC. is included in the form whereas it is not.
“I hope that such outlets will be guided by this clarification, as well as our statement from last week, to put forward the correct position.”
The Ogun State Government had earlier issued a denial in a statement by the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade.
The statement said the constitutionality of the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offenses Commission has since been determined by the Supreme Court, and Ogun State has stopped discussing the issue.
The government said it had no factual reason or recent development to reopen the question of the constitutionality of the EFCC.
It said that as a federal entity with its own law enforcement agencies, it had no desire to undermine the law and order objectives of the federal government.
Providing clarification on the actual case filed by Ogun State in the court, Ogunbade said: “The case that Ogun State filed (SC/CV/912/2024) does not attack the constitutionality of the EFCC.
“The suit seeks to invalidate the NFIU guidelines and advisory issued in January 2023, which interferes with the economic and governance interests of Ogun State and its local governments.
“This is what we have filed. We are not challenging the constitutionality of the EFCC in this matter,” Ogungbade said.
At last count, about five states have applied to the Supreme Court to withdraw the case initially filed by the Kogi State government challenging the constitutionality of the EFCC.
Last week, the Governor of Benue State, Revd Father Hyacinth Aliya, suspended the state Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice for unilaterally joining the case without his prior approval.
In the hearing on October 22, 2024, the Supreme Court reserved the verdict in the case.
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