The Kogi State government has reacted to an allegation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) that Governor Usman Ododo whisked former Governor Yahaya Bello away from his residence in Abuja when the anti-graft agency laid siege on Wednesday.
Reacting to the allegation, the Commissioner for Information and Communications in the State, Kingsley Fanwo in an interview yesterday, faulted the Commission for what he described as a spurious allegation, stressing that the claim was laughable.
He said. “It’s unfortunate that Kogi State is being dragged into this. The accusation by the EFCC is laughable. Were they sure that the former Governor was in his residence? They were not sure that Governor Ododo whisked him away. So, the allegation is false.
“The Governor of the state, Usman Ododo is a law abiding citizen and leader who respects the rule of law at constitutional level. He wouldn’t be involved in that kind of act. So the accusation is laughable and it is one of the most frivolous things I have heard from the EFCC.
He added, “I’m saying categorically that the Governor didn’t do any such thing. It was another misrepresentation of fact, misinformation by the EFCC to achieve its aims.”
While responding to the question as to whether the Governor slept in his apartment in Abuja, Fanwo said, “It’s not my responsibility to know where the Governor sleeps. I think that his personal aides and family members should know. But what I’m saying is that the Governor didn’t whisk him away from anywhere. What I’m saying is that the former Governor is not evading arrest. He is not running away from anyone. One should look at the law court and see what they are doing.
“There was a subsisting injunction by a court of competent jurisdiction. A suit was filed by the former Governor for the protection of his fundamental human right, restraining the EFCC from harassing, persecuting and arresting him. The court granted the interim injunction pending when the substantive suit will be heard. Immediately that was done, the EFCC lawyers decided to file an appeal against that interim injunction, they cannot claim not to be aware of the interim injunction because you cannot be appealing what you’re not aware of. So, an appeal was filed in the Appeal court in Abuja against that interim injection. The Appeal Court didn’t grant their prayers that the injunction be set aside. They said they would hear the substantive suit and they fixed April 22, which would be on Monday to hear the suit but before that time the EFCC decided to disobey the law by going to harass and intimidate the former Governor. That is a contempt on its own because you cannot disregard court judgment,” he said.
“So, the Governor was not even aware that anybody wanted to arrest him because he is protected by the law, except we want to say that we have descended to a state of anarchy in this country where the decision of the court doesn’t matter anymore,”Fanwo added.
On the question of the court order to arrest the former Governor, He said, “When you do that kind of a thing it is an abuse of court processes. On Wednesday they were at the residence of the former Governor. I was told they got there about 9am in the morning and as at 3pm they were still shopping for an order that would grant them the power to arrest him. So, why go to his house before seeking the constitutional power to be able to arrest him? How were they sure they would be granted? They went to his house waiting for the order to be granted by the Federal High Court.
“We’re aware that before that, a state High Court that granted the restraining injunction also had a substantive suit and decided in favour of the former Governor, restraining the EFCC from harassing, persecuting and arresting him, any member of his family or even the government official that work with him.
“We have a subsisting Court order and the conversation should centre around the content by the EFCC. You cannot be breaking the law and want constitutional reason to be the order of the day. They have broken the law and they committed contempt by not respecting a restraining order that stopped them from harassing, intimidating and arresting the former Governor,” the Commissioner said.
