By Adedapo Adesanya
The Supreme Court has dismissed the suit instituted by 16 states of the federation against the Attorney-General of the Federation, challenging the constitutionality of the Acts establishing three anti-corruption agencies.
Business Post reports that the agencies are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
The apex court in its judgement on Friday dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.
Delivering the lead judgement, Justice Uwani Abba-Aji held that the states were completely wrong in holding that EFCC established by an act of the National Assembly was an illegal and unlawful body.
Justice Abba-Aji, who led a seven-member panel of justices, held that the EFCC Act, which is not a treaty but a convention, does not need the ratification of the Houses of Assembly.
The court had earlier dismissed all objections of the federal government to the suit filed by the states.
Justice Abba-Aji said the plaintiffs’ case was against the Attorney-General of the Federation and not any of the agencies mentioned, hence, the Supreme Court has jurisdiction to determine it.
The suit, which was initially instituted by attorneys general of 16 states, sought the scrapping of the anti-graft agency. While some states withdrew from the suit, some others asked to be joined as co-plaintiffs.
The states that initiated the suit include Ondo, Edo, Oyo, Ogun, Nassarawa, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto, Jigawa, Enugu, Benue, Anambra, Plateau, Cross-River and Niger.
Last month, Imo, Bauchi, and Osun states joined the suit as co-plaintiffs while Anambra, Ebonyi, and Adamawa states announced their decisions to withdraw their suits.
The trio’s suits were then struck out, accordingly, by the court.
In their argument, the plaintiffs relied on the fact that the Constitution is the supreme law and that any law that is inconsistent with it is null and void.
The plaintiffs had argued that the Supreme Court, in Dr Joseph Nwobike Vs Federal Republic of Nigeria, had held that it was a UN Convention against corruption that was reduced into the EFCC Establishment Act and that in enacting this law in 2004, the provision of Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, was not followed.
They argue that the provision of Section 12 must be complied with in bringing a convention into Nigerian law.
According to them, based on the Constitution’s provision, the majority of the state Houses of Assembly needed to agree to bring the convention in before passing the EFCC Act and others, but that was allegedly never done.
The states argued in their suit that the law, as enacted, could not be applied to states that never approved of it, in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian constitution.
Hence, they argued that any institution so formed should be regarded as illegal.
