A lawsuit brought by 19 state governments against the federal government, contesting the validity of the legislation creating the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and two others, was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Friday.
The suit was dismissed by the supreme court due to its lack of substance and validity.
According to Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, who read the majority ruling, the states were entirely incorrect to conclude that the EFCC, which was created by a National Assembly statute, was an unconstitutional organization.
The seven-member panel of justices unanimously upheld the EFCC, ICPC, and NFIU’s authority to detain and prosecute criminals.
In the case designated SC/CV/178/2023, the plaintiffs contended that the Supreme Court had ruled in Dr. Joseph Nwobike vs. Federal Republic of Nigeria that the EFCC Establishment Act was a reduction of a United Nations Convention against corruption and that the 1999 Constitution’s amended Section 12 was not adhered to when this law was passed in 2004.
The argument was that Section 12 must be followed in order to incorporate a Convention into Nigerian law.
They claim that the Constitution’s requirement that the majority of the states’ Houses of Assembly agree to hold the convention before passing the EFCC Act and other laws was never fulfilled.
In their current lawsuit, the states argued that, in line with the Nigerian constitution, the law as it was passed could not be enforced to states that had never approved of it.
More information later.
