He expressed concerns over the EFCC’s reliance on judicial authorization for arrests . He argued that the EFCC possesses the authority to take action against individuals suspected of committing crimes without the need for a specific court order. He criticized the EFCC’s decision to seek a new order from a different judge, rather than addressing any existing orders or appeals in the judicial system. This approach, in his view, undermines the integrity of the legal process and raises questions about the enforceability of the obtained order.
He said in an interview with Channels TV, ”I wonder why the EFCC would need an order of arrest. You remember in the case of Emefiele, when the EFCC came to arrest him, he refused and he evaded the arrest. Is it necessary to have an order to arrest citizens? An order to arrest a Citizen is simply administrative. So why did they go to the Court in the first place? That’s part of the confusion.
The EFCC has the power to take any steps provided there is a reasonable cause to arrest somebody on suspicion of constituting a crime. They are the ones who made the mistake of going to another judge. If they hadn’t, it would be different. But they went to another judge and my point is that they can’t do that if there is already a pending order before yet another judge. The question of whether that order has expired or not isn’t the issue, the proper thing to do would be to appeal which the EFCC did, or to apply to set aside the order which the EFCC did not do. Rather they jumped to another Judge to get an order which in my view is not enforceable.” CONTINUE FULL READING>>>>>