The Federal Capital Territory High Court has dismissed a case seeking to restrain the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission’s (ICPC) investigation of the Kano State Ministry of Higher Education and the Kano State Scholarship Board’s funds over alleged financial impropriety.
Justice Josephine Obanor passed the judgment, dismissing attempts to restrain the Commission from carrying out its statutory mandate of investigation, the ICPC statement reads.
The matter is said to have arisen from a petition received by the Commission alleging financial impropriety in the administration of Scholarship Funds in Kano State.
What Transpired in Court
According to the ICPC statement, during its investigation, ICPC invited officials from the Kano State Ministry of Higher Education and the Kano State Scholarship Board to provide documents and clarifications regarding allegations contained in the petition.
- However, rather than comply, the applicants, led by the Permanent Secretary of the Kano State Ministry of Higher Education, Dr. Hadi Bala, filed a suit marked CV/2857/2025 against the Attorney-General of the Federation and ICPC.
- The official alleged that such invitations by the ICPC violated their fundamental rights. That line of submission was countered by the ICPC legal team.
What the Judge Said
Delivering judgment on the case, Justice Obanor ruled that the officials of the Kano State Scholarship Board be properly joined as parties in the suit and that the Attorney-General of the Federation be struck out as a party, as his joinder was unnecessary.
The judge held that “an invitation letter from ICPC for investigation purposes does not constitute a breach of fundamental rights.”
- The court, agreeing with the ICPC, held that the applicants failed to show any violation of their rights.
- The judge reaffirmed that ICPC cannot be restrained from performing its lawful duty of investigation. Consequently, the suit was dismissed for lacking merit.
Reacting to the development, the ICPC stressed that the ruling reinforces the Commission’s authority to investigate cases of alleged corruption and financial misconduct in line with its statutory mandate.
- The ICPC reiterated its commitment to transparency, accountability, and justice in Nigeria’s public sector, assuring Nigerians that due process and the rule of law will continue to guide its operations.
More Insights
The development comes months after the ICPC chairman, Dr. Musa Aliyu, disclosed that the agency identified and arrested individuals responsible for manipulating the payroll system, including one case where a government worker added his family members to the system.
“We have been able to track and recover this amount of money, and we have also identified people who are inserting ghost workers in the system. We even discovered that somebody had put his wife, his son, and his in-laws on the payroll,” he said.
According to him, the agency recovered over N20 billion in pension deductions from salaries allocated to ghost workers in 2024.