By Kunle Edun
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It was reported yesterday that Federal Capital Territory High Court sitting at Maitama, Abuja convicted the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abdulrasheed Bawa for contempt of court, because the EFCC refused to comply with an earlier order of the Court.
The report quoted the High Court Judge, Honorable Justice Chizoba Oji, as saying that “The Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is in contempt of the orders of this Honorable Court made on November 21st 2018 directing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Abuja to return to the applicant his Range Rover (super charge) and the sum of N40, 000,000.00 (Forty Million Naira). Having continued willfully in disobedience to the order of this court, he should be committed to prison at Kuje Correctional Centre for his disobedience, and continued disobedience of said order of court made on November 21st, 2018, until he purges himself of the contempt.”
As at the time of going to press, the EFCC Chairman was yet to surrender himself to the Kuje Correctional Centre. What is most troubling was that the order compelling the EFCC to return the said items was made in 2018. Four years after, the EFCC still ignored the Court. We recall that we once had a so called Super Cop whose stock in trade was taking the laws into his hands by indiscriminately arresting and detaining citizens. He was also alleged to have even made some citizens disappeared and confiscated their properties. It had to take the United States’ FBI to rescue us from the rogue cop. Are we now breeding another “super cop”? Governments at all levels and their officials have a terrible penchant for disobeying court orders. To them, the Courts can only bark but cannot bite. It is true.
The Judiciary cannot enforce its own judgments and orders. It relies on the Nigerian Police Force,which is controlled by the Executive arm of government. Foremost human right activist, Femi Falana, SAN recently did a study of the number of judgments that the federal government alone has disobeyed. They ran into more than 2,000. It now seems to be the policy of the various governments in Nigeria not to obey judgments and orders of court. We all saw the drama that played out when the Court of Appeal, Abuja allowed the appeal of NnamdiKanu and struck out the remaining criminal counts against him. There was nothing holding him from being released from that moment. The implication was that if he was in court the moment the court struck out the charge, he could have walked away from the Court straight to his home. The Federal Government of Nigeria refused to release him; and continued to detain him for more than a week without any remand order of court.
The need for public officials and institutions to obey the laws of the country is a must if our democracy must thrive. We cannot afford a situation where the law enforcers or law makers are actually the law breakers, the real problems. This will be a recipe for disaster and may lead only to one road” anarchy, as the people’s trust in their government will be completely eroded. We do not want another #EndSars but have we learnt our lessons? The Court of Appeal had the opportunity to emphasize respect for the rule of law in the case of the GOVERNOR OF EBONYI STATE & ORS V. HON. JUSTICEISUAMA (2003) FWLR [PT. 169] 1210 @ 1227-1228,where the Court of Appeal while stressing the need for public officials to obey the law held that: “Obedience to the rule of law by all citizens but more particularly those who publicly took oath of office to protect and preserve the constitution is a desideratum to good governance and respect for the rule of law. In a democratic society, this is meant to be a norm; it is an apostasy for government to ignore the provisions of the law and the necessary rules made to regulate matters”.
The EFCC Chairman should purge himself of the contempt. Not doing so, may give the impression that the EFCC is a lawless organization.
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