By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A suit filed by former Minister of State for Defence, Mr Musiliu Obanikoro, against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), has been struck out by a Federal High Court sitting in Ikoyi, Lagos.
Mr Obanikoro, a former gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State, had slammed a N100 million on the anti-graft agency, alleging infringement on his fundamental rights.
In his ruling on Monday, Justice Abdulaziz Anka, held that the suit lacked competence.
The former Minister; his wives, Fati and Moroophat; and sons, Gbolahan and Babajide; had, through their counsel, Mr Lawal Pedro (SAN), in the suit, sued the EFCC for “unlawful invasion of their houses and seizure of some of their properties.”
They had urged the court to declare the seizure of items from their houses on June 14, 2016 by the agency as null and void.
However, in his ruling today, Justice Anka upheld the preliminary objection by E.E. Iheanacho, counsel to the EFCC, who said: “since the main claim of the applicants was founded on tort, their principal reliefs are not maintainable under the Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rules, 2009.”
The judge ruled that the commission had secured search warrants from the Lagos State Magistrate Court to carry out the search on the applicant’s houses.
Justice Anka also refused to declare the recovered items as null and void, so as not to prevent the EFCC from tendering them as exhibits in the pending criminal case against the applicants.