A Bauchi State High Court has dismissed an application seeking to bar the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) from investigating financial activities, including security votes, in the Office of the Secretary to the Bauchi State Government.
By Chimezie Godfrey
A Bauchi State High Court has dismissed an application seeking to bar the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) from investigating financial activities, including security votes, in the Office of the Secretary to the Bauchi State Government.
The development was contained in a statement signed by the ICPC spokesperson, Demola Bakare, fsi, Director of Public Enlightenment and Education, on Wednesday.
In the suit, marked BA/834M/2024, nine applicants under the name “Concerned Indigenes of Bauchi State” had alleged that the office of the Secretary to the State Government had become a “financial drainpipe against the general interest of the populace of Bauchi State.”
They claimed they had lost confidence in ICPC, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), accusing the agencies of “unwillingness to discharge their duties” despite numerous complaints.
The applicants further prayed the court to compel the three anti-graft bodies to hands off the matter and transfer it to the Nigeria Police for investigation.
Counsel to the applicants, Mr. M. J. Jaldi, argued in court that “some of the actions of the 4th Respondent (Bauchi SSG), like payment of huge amounts of money in cash without passing through financial institutions, violate the provision of the Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act which calls for investigation by the Police.”
However, ICPC, in a counter-affidavit opposing the application, said the move was an attempt to use the court “as an instrument of subversion in the performance of their statutory mandate.”
The Commission, alongside EFCC, maintained that the applicants failed to present any valid complaints or petitions against the respondents. They also argued that nothing prevented the applicants from approaching other agencies of government, including the Police, rather than seeking an order of perpetual injunction against the ICPC, EFCC and NFIU.
Delivering judgment, Honourable Justice F.U. Sarki ruled that the statutory powers of the ICPC, EFCC and NFIU did not in any way exclude the powers of the Police to also investigate and prosecute.
“It is not within the powers of this court to restrain the 1st to 3rd Respondents from carrying out their statutory functions. The application is therefore consequently refused,” the judge declared.
The court’s ruling, according to ICPC, reaffirms the statutory independence of anti-graft agencies in discharging their duties.
Court Rejects Move to Shield Bauchi SSG Security Votes from ICPC Probe
