Contempt: Why EFCC chair must first go to Kuje prison – Olanipekun 

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Ola Olanipekun, has urged Inspector-General of Police Babal Alkali to comply with a court order committing the Chairman Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) Abdulrasheed Bawa to prison for contempt. 

He said by disobeying court orders, Bawa was trying to cause anarchy in the country.

Justice Chizoba Oji of the FCT High Court had  October 28, ordered Bawa committed to Kuje correctional  facility for flagrant disobedience of the court after the commission failed to obey a prior judgement issued  November 21, 2018, in respect of former NAF director of operations,  Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Rufus Adeniyi Ojuawo.

Similarly, Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court Monday, also committed Bawa to Kuje Prison for two weeks until he purges himself of alleged contempt, awarded N10 million against the EFCC boss and ordered his arrest by the IGP.

She gave the order in a ruling on an application brought before her by one Ali Bello through his counsel, S. A. Abass, who prayed the court to commit the EFCC boss for disobeying a court ordered earlier granted by her (Ayoola).

Expressing his worry while featuring on Arise Television, Olanipekun said  no Nigerian or foreigner, no matter how highly placed should be allowed to rubbish the courts. 

He said: “In fact, the higher the position you occupy, the greater the burden of responsibility on you to show good example and live within the ambit of the law. 

“Nobody, nobody at all, no matter how highly placed, no matter the position you occupy, not even the President of Nigeria, can disobey court order.”  

In this particular (Kogi) case, Olanipekun said: “The Inspector-General of Police is going to carry out that order, he is going to go to prison or at the earliest time possible, he goes back to that court to go and purge himself of the contempt. All he has to do is to go and release that particular citizen and if there are other orders that the court has made, like in this particular case, the court has made an order for an apology to the citizen for so detaining him in flagrant breach of his fundamental human rights. 

“So he has to go ahead and make that apology. We must comply with the law. We must realise that this is a Federal Republic of Nigeria, a country that is founded on law, on procedure, on rule of law. He must comply with the orders. It is not something that he can just walk away from. And if he doesn’t purge himself of the contempt, he is going to remain in prison for as long as it takes him to purge himself of the contempt. If he purges himself of the contempt within 48 hours, he gets released from the prison, he doesn’t have to spend the whole of 14 days there. But the law has to be complied with. 

“There is an order now for the Inspector-General of Police to comply with. So, we are now waiting to see whether the IGP will comply with this order. If he doesn’t comply, he himself will become liable for committal  for contempt.” 

“We can’t just continue as if the law doesn’t exist. The EFCC or the Police or any institution whatsoever, they are all set up by statute, so, they must operate within the ambit of the law,” Olanipekun noted.

“Over the years, EFCC had been having a running battle with the law, we must realise that Section 34, in fact, the entire Chapter 4, has to do with the Fundamental Human Rights of Nigerians, and this is the area where EFCC always has problems. 

“Section 34 talks about the dignity of the Nigerian person. You don’t just treat people anyhow. The fact that somebody has a case doesn’t mean he has lost his citizenship. 

“There is presumption of innocence, not only when you are taken to court, it also applies when you are being investigated. The degree of innocence when being investigated is even higher than when taken to court. A man has his right to fair hearing,” the silk further argued.  

On why Bawa should be jailed,  the silk said: “The order is that he should be committed to prison until he purges himself of the contempt. What was it that the court asked him to do that he failed to do? He was asked to produce Citizen Bello in court, he didn’t produce him. Let me make something clear. It was not as if when the court made the order, he didn’t comply and the order of committal was made, no. 

“There is a procedure. He did not comply; Form 48 was served on him, to let him know that ‘your disobedience has consequences.’ He ignored it. Form 49 was served on him for him to come and show cause why he should not be committed to prison for contempt of court, he ignored it. A motion was filed and served on him, giving him notice that we are going to move the court to give an order for you to be committed for contempt and you will be committed to prison, he ignored it. 

“Well, at the last moment, the lawyers came to court and they could not give any reasonable argument so the court granted the application and made an order of committal. So, he goes to prison. 

“We must comply with the law. We must realise that this is a Federal Republic of Nigeria, a country that is founded on law, on procedure, on rule of law.”