Court sends EFCC chairman to prison for contempt

Justice R.O. Ayoola of the Kogi State High Court on Monday committed the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Abdulrasheed Bawa, to prison for contempt.

The judge gave the order while ruling on an application filed before it by one Ali Bello.

Bello in the application filed by his counsel, S. A. Abbas, urged the court to commit the EFCC chief to prison for disobeying an order earlier granted by the judge.

The EFCC and Bawa were listed as respondents in the suit.

Ayoola had on December 12, 2022, delivered a ruling in favour of the plaintiff who had dragged EFCC to court for alleged illegal arrest and detention.

Three days after he was released on the court’s order, the EFCC re-arrested the complainant and re-arraigned him for alleged money laundering.

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To justify its action, the commission filed a fresh application for a stay of execution of the earlier ruling by the court.

The judge later ordered Bawa to appear before him on January 18, to explain why he should not be jailed for flouting the order given on December 12 last year on the matter.

At Monday’s proceeding, he awarded N10 million against EFCC and ordered the Inspector-General of Police to arrest Bawa and send him to the Kuje correctional Centre for two weeks until he purges himself of the contempt.

He also ordered the respondents to tender an unreserved apology to Bello in a national newspaper.

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