Supreme Court dismisses suit challenging constitutionality of EFCC, ICPC, NFIU

The Supreme Court on Friday adjudicated the dismissal of a lawsuit initiated by 19 state governments against the federal government, which contested the constitutionality of the statutes establishing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and two additional entities.

The Supreme court rejected the lawsuit on the grounds of a lack of merit and substantive validity.

Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, who delivered the principal judgment, asserted that the states were fundamentally erroneous in their assertion that the EFCC, constituted by an act of the National Assembly, constituted an illegal and unlawful institution.

In the unanimous ruling of a seven-member panel of Justices of the court, the authority of the EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to apprehend and prosecute offenders was upheld.

The plaintiffs, in the lawsuit designated as SC/CV/178/2023, contended that the Supreme Court, in the case of Dr. Joseph Nwobike vs Federal Republic of Nigeria, determined that the enactment of the EFCC Establishment Act was a manifestation of a United Nations Convention against corruption and that the enactment of this statute in 2004 did not adhere to the stipulations of Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended.

The contention posited was that, in the process of incorporating a Convention into Nigerian law, compliance with the provisions of Section 12 was imperative.

As asserted by the plaintiffs, the constitutional provision mandated that a majority of the state Houses of Assembly must consent to the incorporation of the Convention prior to the enactment of the EFCC Act and other related statutes, a procedural requirement that was purportedly not fulfilled.

The states’ argument in their current litigation maintained that the law, as enacted, could not be applied to states that had not endorsed it, in accordance with the stipulations of the Nigerian Constitution.

Details later…