Abuja high court dismisses EFCC corruption charges brought against Rochas Okorocha

FORMER Imo State governor Senator Rochas Okorocha has been cleared of all corruption charges filed against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) by a Federal Capital Territory (FCT) high court.

In a huge relief for the controversial former governor and lawmaker, Justice Yusuf Halilu of the FCT high court dismissed all the cases against Senator Okorocha. This is the third time Senator Okorocha has been freed by courts in respect of alleged fraud and corruption said to have been committed while he was Imo State governor between 2011 and 2019.

Earlier today, Justice Halilu dismissed the charges filed by the EFCC, describing them as being an abuse of the court process. According to Justice Halilu, it was wrong for EFCC to continue to file similar charges against a defendant in different courts, particularly when a court of competent jurisdiction had already decided on the matter.

Justice Stephen Pam of the Federal High Court in Port Harcourt had in a 2021 judgment, quashed the EFCC charges against Senator Okorocha after they were declared as illegal, unlawful, null and void. Subsequently, the judge prohibited the EFCC from further prosecuting the former governor over any alleged offence relating to the said investigation.

However, on May 24, 2022, the commission arrested Senator Okorocha after over six hours of siege at his Abuja residence and subsequently arraigned him and six others before the Federal High Court in Abuja. They were alleged to have embezzled the sum of N2.9bn belonging to the government of Imo State.

However, Justice Inyang Ekwo, in a ruling delivered on February 6, struck out the charges for contravening Section 105 (3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015, which gives the attorney-general of the federation the power to recall a case. Justice Ekwo held that the directive of the attorney-general in a letter dated September 12, 2022, to the EFCC to forward the case file with its comments on the issues for consideration and review, was binding on the commission.

Also, the court agreed with Senator Okorocha that the earlier judgement of a court of coordinate jurisdiction sitting in Port Harcourt between him and EFCC, restrains the agency from further proceeding on the alleged offences.  Justice Halilu, while noting that the agency by law is conferred with a wide range of investigatory and prosecutorial powers, maintained that the commission must learn to operate within the law, adding that the EFCC, being a creation of the law, must be a respecter of the law.

He noted that while the commission did the right thing by appealing the judgement, it ought not to have approached another court of coordinate jurisdiction to file a similar charge against Senator Okorocha. While warning that nobody or agency is above the law, the court advised the anti-graft agency to accept that there must be an end to litigation.