High court grants EFCC the right to arrest former Adamawa governor Murtala Nyako

FORMER Adamawa State governor Murtala Nyako faces the prospect of being arrested after an Abuja high court dismissed an application he filed seeking to restrain the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from prosecuting him.

 

In July last year, the Adamawa State House of Assembly voted to impeach Governor Nyako with 18 out of the 25 members of the legislature electing to remove him after an investigative panel found him guilty of 16 out of the 20 allegations levelled against him. A retired naval admiral, ex-governor Nyako, 71, went into hiding immediately after his impeachment and eventually showed up in London, evading the EFCC.

 

Following the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Nyako returned to Nigeria but was subsequently arrested by the EFCC to answer claims he laundered up to N15bn (£49m) while in office. He is currently out on bail and is seeking to get the charges quashed, claiming they are political.

 

However, an Abuja Federal High Court refused to grant an application after Governor Nyako had filed a motion ex-parte, seeking an interim injunction restraining the EFCC, inspector-general of police and the Department of State Security from arresting him. He had in the substantive suit, prayed the court restrain the respondents from arresting or detaining him in relation to allegations of financial misconduct while serving as Adamawa governor.

 

Justice Ahmed Mohammed refused to grant the application, saying there was no sufficient reason for the court to restrain the respondents in the fundamental rights enforcement suit. He instead, ordered Governor Nyako to put the respondents on notice vis-à-vis the applications for injunction filed against them and ordered him to serve the originating motion, filed on May 28 on the respondents, within seven days effective from yesterday.

 

 “Having read through the supporting affidavit, particularly paragraphs 5 to 19 which contain facts relating to this case, this court is unable to accede to the request for order of interim injunction sought,” Justice Mohammed ruled.

 

According to the EFCC, the permanent secretary of local governments in Adamawa State is accused of making cash withdrawals of over N2bn in 181 different transactions, in tranches of N3m, N4m, N8m and N9m from First Bank between 2011 and 2012. He also allegedly made similar cash withdrawals amounting to over N500m between March 6, 2008 and March 4, 2011, from another joint account at Keystone Bank in behalf of the governor.