Elder statesman and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Robert Clarke, has said that governors and their predecessors challenging the legality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will fail.
Clarke spoke on the constitutional lawsuit as a guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today programme.
The senior lawyer who described the governors as jittery said they “cannot challenge the Federal Government for implementing an existing law.
“They cannot challenge the police or any other agency of government (EFCC) for executing an existing law”.
BAR & BENCH WATCH reports that sixteen states had dragged the EFCC and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) to the Supreme Court contesting the constitutionality of the laws establishing the two agencies.
The suit was instituted by the Kogi State Government and 15 other states.
A seven-man panel of justice led by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji has fixed October 22, 2024, to hear the suit.
Clarke said the legitimacy or otherwise of the laws that created the two agencies could be challenged by the governors but he doubted the correctness of the move by the plaintiffs.
“They have a legal right as governors to bring before the Supreme Court an action that challenges a law that is repugnant to the Constitution
“If you look at the antecedents of the operations of these laws. Many of the very notorious (cases), I will not use the word notorious derogatorily, have been involving sitting governors, governors that are out of office, and therefore, they have every right to be jittery that this matter is mainly created for the governors’ bubbles but I do not see to that point.
“If there is anything in that law that runs against the constitution, they should let us know. But if there is no law today that says the Federal Government cannot pass a law relating to criminal acts of governors during their period of executive work, then I doubt whether they are treading the correct grounds.
“They cannot challenge the Federal Government for implementing an existing law. They cannot challenge the police or any other agency of government that is executing an existing law.
“This law they are trying to challenge is a law that was created at the start of our laws as of today.”
The EFCC is currently prosecuting the immediate-past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello over alleged N80.2bn money laundering.
The incumbent governor, Usman Ododo, has been accused of shielding his predecessor from arrest by the anti-graft agency.
