The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed an appeal the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) filed against the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja that the commission abused its power in handling a case with a businessman, Babatunde Morakinyo.
A three-man panel of the appellate court held that EFCC’s decision to re-arrest Morakinyo on the premises of a court after he had met his bail conditions was an abuse of power and a breach of his fundamental rights in an “oppressive, repressive and condemnable” manner.
The panel, which partially upheld the March 1, 2021 judgment by Justice Inyang Ekwo of the Federal High Court in Abuja, held that EFCC’s detention of Morakinyo after two High Courts in Lagos and Abuja had admitted him to bail was a gross abuse of statutory powers.
The appellate court also held that the commission’s claim that it arrested Morakinyo after he had perfected the earlier bail the courts in Lagos and Abuja granted him was misconceived and untenable in law.
Justice Hussein Mukhtar, in the lead judgment, said the verdict of the Federal High Court in Abuja was unambiguous and without misdirection or error, adding that the re-arrest of the respondent was willful, unlawful and condemnable.
The judge averred that the fundamental rights of Nigerian citizens to liberty and human dignity, guaranteed under Section 35(6), was unassailable and could not be ignored as the EFCC did in its handling of Morakinyo’s case.
But he reduced the N50 million damages the Federal High Court awarded against the commission to N10 million on the grounds that the fine was excessive.
The EFCC had, on March 19, 2021, arraigned Morakinyo on a 23-count charge in which he was accused of engaging in money laundering.
The respondent pleaded not guilty to the charge and was granted N200 million bail with two sureties, among other conditions.
