EFCC Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa
By Our Reporter
The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa said the commission had appealed the judgment of the FCT High Court, convicting him of contempt of court for failing to comply with an earlier order of the court.
Justice Chizoba Oji, of the FCT High Court, in a ruling, held that the chairman of the commission was in contempt of the orders of court made on Nov. 21, 2018.
The court had directed the commission to return to an applicant his Range Rover vehicle and the sum of N40 million.
The court said having continued willfully in disobedience to the order of the court, Bawa should be committed to prison at Kuje Correctional Centre.
This, according to the court, is for his disobedience and continued disobedience of the said order until he purged himself of the contempt.
In a related development, the EFCC said its Executive Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa had ordered the release of the Range Rover which is the subject of litigation to the applicant on the 27th of June, 2022 and had approved the process of releasing the remaining N40m.
In a statement, EFCC Head, Media and Publicity Wilson Uwujaren said the Commission received with shock, report of the ruling by Justice Chizoba Oji of a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, Abuja committing the Executive Chairman for contempt over the failure to comply with a November 21st, 2018 order of the court directing the Commission to return seized assets comprising a Range Rover (Super charge) and the sum of N40, 000,000.00 (Forty Million Naira) to the applicant.
Uwujaren said the ruling was surprising as it created a wrong impression of the person of the Executive Chairman of the EFCC as encouraging impunity.
“As far as the relationship between the EFCC and the judiciary is concerned, the Executive Chairman, Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa has been an apostle of rule of law, due process, and close collaboration between the two institutions in justice administration” Uwujaren said
