The Supreme Court of Nigeria has thrown out a lawsuit filed by several state Attorneys General contesting the legality of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).
The lawsuit, led by Kogi State, sought to nullify the EFCC Act, arguing it conflicted with constitutional requirements for enacting international treaties.

In a ruling delivered on Friday by a seven-member panel headed by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, the court dismissed the suit for lack of merit. The plaintiffs argued that the EFCC Establishment Act, which incorporates the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, was passed without the required approval from a majority of state Houses of Assembly, as stipulated by Section 12 of the 1999 Constitution.

Kogi State’s counsel, Mohammed Abdulwahab, SAN, argued that this lack of state endorsement invalidated the EFCC Act and related laws, including those establishing the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).
He further questioned the authority of the EFCC and NFIU to investigate and prosecute state and local government officials over funds management, suggesting that doing so overstepped their mandate.

In response, Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, defended the anti-corruption bodies, emphasizing that dismantling them would compromise Nigeria’s fight against corruption. He argued that the National Assembly has the constitutional power to pass laws addressing corruption, which applies uniformly across the nation.

The Supreme Court upheld the EFCC Act, affirming that the National Assembly holds the authority to enact anti-corruption laws and that states cannot create laws that contradict federal legislation. Justice Abba-Aji highlighted that the lawsuit revealed “selfish motives” by exposing that state officials, not federal ones, were under EFCC scrutiny, calling the plaintiffs’ actions “a can of worms and skeletons in their cupboard.”

“No state has the right to enact laws that contradict the statutes passed by the National Assembly,” Justice Abba-Aji said, delivering the unanimous judgment. The lawsuit was dismissed entirely, with the court reaffirming the National Assembly’s competence in creating laws to combat corruption.

In a new twist to the high-stakes legal battle over Nigeria’s Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Project, the High Court in Apo, near Abuja, Monday adjourned its session after scheduling a hearing on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission’s (EFCC) motion to amend bribery charges against Dr. Olu Agunloye, a former Minister of Power.

The EFCC alleges that Dr. Agunloye received N5 million in bribes from Sunrise Power Company in 2019, tied to a 2003 Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) contract he awarded as Minister. However, with previous testimony failing to establish evidence of direct payments, the EFCC has revised its allegations, now claiming that the bribes were funneled through intermediaries.
It will be recalled that on 21 October 2024, the prosecution (EFCC) sought to amend its charges that “Agunloye collected (retroactive) bribes, totalling N5m, in three instalments over a period of five months, from Sunrise Power Company between August and December 2019 for a contract awarded in 2003”.

Between 2004 and 2007, the Federal Government of Nigeria under President Olusegun Obasanjo promulgated that electricity power projects should no longer be by BOT contract but by outright procurement contract.
The then President went ahead and secured a huge grant of $16 billion from the Nigeria’s Excess Crude Oil Funds, moved all power projects in Nigeria from the Ministry of Power to the Presidency, and split the Mambilla power project into component parts.
The president then started to re-award the component parts as procurement contracts.

Between 2008 and 2015, the Presidency, under Alhaji Musa Yar’Adua, cancelled the component Mambilla contracts awarded by President Obasanjo and re-awarded the Mambilla Project back to Messrs, Sunrise Power Company.
However, between 2016 and 2019, under General Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Government again re-awarded the same Mambilla project to yet another contractor. 
It is the recurring contract awards and re-awards that led Messrs Sunrise and FGN to the International Arbitration Panel in Paris, France, wherein the Federal Government of Nigeria resorted to an odious criminalisation strategy to evade being penalised for any wrongdoings. 

During the Nigerian trial of the former Minister Agunloye, EFCC produced its first prosecution witness in June 2024 who failed during cross examination to establish that Agunloye collected money from Sunrise Power Company as stated in Charges 5, 6 and 7 of the seven Charges levelled against the former Minister.
Subsequent to this demolition of EFCC allegations, the Prosecutor then sought to amend the bribery charges to “receiving bribes from Mr. Jide Sotirin on behalf of Mr Leno Adesanya on behalf of Sunrise Power Company”. 
Monday’s brief court session started at 9:37 a.m., with the judge noting that the defense had just received new filings from the prosecution.
The judge adjourned the case to November 14, 2024, when both sides will formally present their positions on the amended charges.
The ruling on this amendment could have far-reaching implications for both the trial and Nigeria’s international liabilities.

The hearing concluded at 9:45 a.m., marking a short yet significant development in one of Nigeria’s most closely watched cases

A Legal Practitioner, Mr. Blessing Agbomhere has dragged Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria to court over illegal divestment of its assets to the Renaissance Group.
The group comprises of five companies namely; Consolidated Petroline Group Limited, MidWestern Oil and Gas Company Limited, Aradel Holdings PLC, First Exploration and Petroleum Development Company Limited and WalterSmith Petroleum Oil Limited.

Agbomhere in his suit is asking for the invalidation of the divestment that was approved by the Nigeria Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), saying that it falls short of the combined provisions of sections 1, 2, 3, 12, 14, 15 and 16 of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010 and Section 42 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

It would be recalled that in 2021, Shell announced its intention to divest its Nigerian onshore assets due to the incompatibility of its long-term energy transition strategy with the challenges of operations in Nigeria, marked by theft and oil spills.

This move had expectedly sparked wide reactions and cast serious doubts in the minds of Niger Deltans on the propriety of the intentions of the IOC given the age long mutual suspicion between the company and the long neglected people of the region.

The claimants in the suit represented by their counsel, Mr Agbomhere are praying the court to amongst other things declare that Shell’s assets should be divested to capable companies with head office in the Niger Delta region whose majority shareholders are indigenous to the Niger Delta region where the 1st Defendant’s oil assets are located.
He insisted that the people of the region cannot be surrounded by water yet have no water to drink.

In the originating summons, Agbomhere averred that Shell did not divest its oil assets to capable companies with head office in the Niger Delta region where the facilities are located as required by law, adding that majority of the shareholders in the companies that the assets were divested to are not indigenes of the Niger Delta region.

Agbomhere is representing nine claimants namely; Odiandeye Akonfa, James Okeati, Victor Okiri, Fortune Nakoro, Kenneth Anyanwo, Okwara Idika, Akpan Edem, Otetubi Tolulope and Olali Solomon who are praying the Court to nullify the divestment and carry out a fresh process which would take into cognizance the aspirations of the Niger Delta people.

Finally he appealed to the President and commander in chief who he said knows how to create opportunities to see this as another opportunity to empower the people of the region according to his RENEWED HOPE AGENDA.