Dr. Olu Agunloye, former Minister of Power and Steel under ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo, has filed a N1 billion suit against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) over allegations that it published his name on its website’s wanted list.
Agunloye, in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/167/2024 and filed by his team of lawyers led by Mr. Adeola Adedipe, SAN, also joined the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) as the second defendant.
The case, presently before Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court, Abuja, has now been fixed for April 18 for hearing.
The originating summons, dated and filed Feb. 8, was sighted by the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday.
The ex-minister sought six reliefs, including a declaration that the EFCC cannot lawfully exercise its discretion, powers, or functions under Sections 1(2\(c\, 6, 7, 13 of the EFCC Act, 2004, ditto Section 4 of the Police Act 2020, by declaring him wanted on its official website or any other related platform.
Agunloye said this was without recourse to any safeguard in Sections 34({1)(a), 35, 37, 39, 41, and 42 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), including a judicial intervention, order, or leave of court pursuant to Sections 1(1), 8(1), & 42(2) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015.
He, therefore, sought an order for the EFCC, its agents, privies, representatives, and other related affiliates to forthwith remove his picture, name, references, details, or particulars from the wanted list published on its official website or any other related platform.
He also sought a perpetual injunction restraining the EFCC and the AGF, “both jointly or severally, whether by themselves or their staff, from further declaring the plaintiff wanted in relation to the particulars and subject matter of this suit, either on the EFCC official website, newspaper publication, or any other related platform, except by a judicial intervention and recourse to all constitutional safeguards available to him in law and equity.
“General damages of one billion Naira (N1,000,000,000) against the defendants, especially the 1st defendant
“Cost of this action.”
In the affidavit that he personally deposed to, Agunloye said he sought redress and judicial intervention from the court having regard to some very disturbing actions of the anti-graft agency, which he said ought not to occur under the watch of the AGF, who is the chief law officer of the federation.
He said he sought a judicial determination on the propriety, or otherwise, of the exercise of the EFCC’s discretion or power to declare him wanted without recourse to any judicial intervention or relevant constitutional safeguards.
“As of the time of filing this suit, my picture, name, particulars, and other details are currently uploaded on the official website of the first defendant,” he said.
The plaintiff said he was declared wanted for corruption and forgery.
According to him, as a result of this action by the 1st defendant, I have become a subject of ridicule, stripped of my dignity, freedom of movement, and even presumption of innocence, with respect to a criminal trial that I am currently being prosecuted for by the 1st defendant.
He alleged that the deliberate act of the EFCC was orchestrated to negatively project him in the international community.
Agunloye said this was so because sometime in November 2002 to May 2003, while he served as Minister of Power and Steel, he awarded a contract to Messrs. Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited for the construction of the Mambila Power Project by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).
“The award of the said contracts followed all the necessary administrative and authoritative due process, obtaining the necessary approval.
“Moreover, since the award of the contract, successive administrations have continued to interface with the company, Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited, so much so that the government entered into a settlement agreement with it over a dispute.
“On an allegation of breach of contract by the company, Sunrise Power and Transmission Limited resorted to take out an arbitral proceeding before the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris, France, in Case No. 26260/SPN/AB/CPB between Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited and . FGN
“It is in connection with this arbitral proceeding that the 1st defendant invited me for interrogation on May 3, 2023, and I did the same on May 16, 2023, despite my frailties and health conditions.
“Upon my release on administrative bail, the first defendant persisted in hounding me to return for further grilling, which I frowned at because I was undergoing serious medical treatment related to my heart.
“When the threat and disturbances became alarming in June 2023, I filed a suit in court to challenge the unnecessary harassment because I was not running away but only attending to my health with notice to the first defendant.
“It was however traumatising on the night of Tuesday, December 12, 2023, when I started receiving calls from all around the globe that I had been declared wanted by the 1st defendant.
“Knowing fully well that I was not on the run, I reported to the EFCC headquarters here in Abuja the next day, December 13, 2023, where I was served with a criminal charge and was detained until December 18, 2023.
“On January 10, 2024, I was arraigned in court and admitted to bail on January 11, 2024, because I am presumed innocent of all the criminal allegations,” he averred.
Agunloye said that despite the fact that the law presumes him innocent of the criminal charge, EFCC continued with the unlawful publication on its website
He described the action of the anti-graft agency as “arbitrariness, oppression, violation of its statutory powers and functions, and unlawful.”(NAN)
