Abubakar Malami, SAN, former Attorney General and Minister of Justice, will remain in the EFCC custody longer than he thought. Babangida Hassan of the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Thursday dismissed the summons for bail which he filed against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.
Malami is facing multiple allegations of corruption.
Through his counsel, Dr. Suliaman Hassan, SAN, he had approached the court seeking bail from the custody of the EFCC, arguing that his detention by the Commission in its ongoing investigation, was illegal.
However, counsel to the EFCC, Chief J.S. Okutepa, SAN, submitted that the EFCC was holding the former Minister through a valid Remand Order obtained at an FCT High Court granted by Justice S. C Oriji. He equally affirmed that the EFCC was a law-abiding Commission that would not detain a suspect beyond the lawful period without an order of the court.
In his ruling, Justice Hassan held, quoting Section 35 of the Constitution, that since there was a provision in the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, ACJA, for detention, Malami was lawfully detained by the Remand Order of the court. “Asking this court to grant this application is tantamount to inviting the court to sit as an appellate court over an application made by a court of coordinate jurisdiction which the court has no power to do”, he sai
