S’Court reserves judgement in 19 states’ suit challenging EFCC legitimacy

The Supreme Court has reserved judgement in the suit filed by 19 states challenging the constitutionality of the laws establishing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

The plaintiffs in the suit marked: SC/CV/178/2023 argued that the Supreme Court, in Dr Joseph Nwobike vs Federal Republic of Nigeria, had held that it was a United Nations 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.

The argument was that, in bringing a convention into Nigerian law, the provision of Section 12 must be complied with.

According to them, the provision of the constitution necessitated the majority of the states’ Houses of Assembly agreeing to bring the convention in before passing the EFCC Act and others, which was allegedly never done.

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The argument of the states in their present suit which they had reportedly been corroborated by the Supreme Court in the previous case mentioned is 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 an