By Tony Adibe
Just like its youth wing, the umbrella Igbo socio-cultural organization, Ohanaeze Ndigbo has lauded the Federal High Court, Abuja, for vacating the interim order, which sanctioned the forfeiture to the Federal Government of 40 properties belonging to the former Deputy President of Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu.
The Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council (OYC) had in a statement issued last week commended the Federal High Court Abuja presided over by Justice Inyang Ekwo for the latest verdict, but vehemently condemned the ignoble role played in the Ekweremadu saga by the anti-graft agency, EFCC, insisting that the commission should hide its face in shame.
The trial Justice, Inyang Ekwo, in vacating the interim order, tongue lashed the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for the role it played in the continued detention of Ekweremadu in the United Kingdom, stressing that no Nigerian should be made to pass through such ordeal whether at home or abroad.
NewsBits recalls that Justice Ekwo had in November 2022, given the interim order based on the facts brought before it by the EFCC. However, in the current ruling, Justice Ekwo accused the EFCC of suppressing material facts before the court, and thus misdirecting the court.
Embattled former Deputy President of Senate, Senator Ike Ekweremadu
“It is not hard to reason that the essence of the application for interim forfeiture by the respondent (EFCC) is to give credence to the letter of July 18, 2022, to the Crown Prosecution Service and to give them further reason for continued custody of Senator Ekweremadu in the United Kingdom,” Justice Ekwo said.
In a statement issued on Monday by the Ohanaeze National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Alex Ogbonnia, Ohanaeze Ndigbo saluted the courage of Justice Ekwo in reversing himself based on clear facts adduced by Ekweremadu`s lawyers before the court.
Ohanaeze said: “It beats imagination that EFCC would desperately rush to court with false and distorted facts to secure a ruling against the former Deputy Senate President who is being unjustly held in the UK prison custody when it (EFCC) knew he was not in a position to defend himself.”
While bemoaning the action of the EFCC, the trial Honourable Justice Ekwo stated as follows: “I have been asking myself the question repeatedly: how can a citizen of Nigeria who is incarcerated outside the country to the knowledge of the respondent (EFCC), be expected to show cause in an action in Nigeria brought by the respondent?
“In other words, how do you help to tie down a man and initiate a fight and demand that the same man you have helped to tie down must defend himself? This, in my opinion, is an unconscionable act. The act of the respondent clearly shows that this action was brought in bad faith.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo, therefore, condemned in no mistaken terms the action of the EFCC which portrays it as a partisan tool in the hands of some highly placed people to fight imaginary or real enemies.
According to Ogbonnia, “Ohanaeze stands on a firm wicket to state that it will not augur well for our country if the state institutions like the EFCC are being wilfully deployed to serve narrow and partisan interests. We counsel the EFCC to ensure that at all times its actions are guided by time-honoured principles of equity and fairness.
“Ohanaeze Ndigbo is vindicated on its earlier position that there are several corruption cases in the EFCC but the haste, indiscretion, bias, media trial and callousness with which the agency of the Federal Government has chosen to backstab a Nigerian citizen is counterintuitive and an indelible adverse image on the country.”
