The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu (SAN), appeared before a Kano State High Court on Thursday in response to a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by the Association of Local Government Chairmen Chairman and 43 Local Government Areas Caretaker Committees.
The court, presided over by Justice Ibrahim Musa Karaye, is set to adjudicate on the suit seeking to restrain the ICPC and other law enforcement agencies from investigating the award of contracts by the applicants.
Counsel for the applicants, Shamsu Jibrin, stated that his clients approached the court seeking a legal interpretation on whether it is lawful for seven government agencies to launch an investigation into a single matter simultaneously, describing the incident as an abuse of court processes, frivolous, and unconstitutional.
Jibrin explained that he approached the court to enforce the rights of the applicants, alleging that the ICPC and the Kano State Anti-Corruption Commission had violated the court’s interim order restraining the respondents from further action pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit.
He stated that the order was served on the respondents 24 hours after it was issued, stressing that the respondents violated the order on 6 September 2024.
At the resumed hearing on Thursday, the counsel for the applicants informed the court that he had filed two applications: one for contempt proceedings against the ICPC and Anti-Corruption Commission, and the other requesting that the court prohibit the respondents from further action until they comply.
In response, the ICPC boss said the applicants’ counsel misled the court to obtain an interim order against the Commission.
In his submission, the Chairman stated that lawyers should be ministers in the temple of justice, stressing that the Commission had invited one Abdullahi Aliyu Dederi, the caretaker chairman of Karaye LGA.
He also noted that Dederi is not a party to the suit, adding, “The suit was filed by 44 LGAs Chairmen of Kano State, while the ICPC invited one Abdullahi Aliyu Dederi, a caretaker of Karaye LGA. Dederi is not a party to this suit, and I can describe him as an imposter.
“Pursuant to the provisions of Section 122 of the Evidence Act, I urge this honourable court to take judicial notice that earlier in March, the Kano State Governor forwarded Dederi’s name alongside 43 others to the Kano State House of Assembly for confirmation as Caretaker Chairmen of 44 LGAs in Kano State.”
The Chairman further stated that Dederi and 43 others have been managing the local governments’ funds, arguing that the applicants want to use the court to continue managing the 44 LGAs’ funds.
Relying on a Supreme Court judgement delivered on 11 July 2024, the ICPC Chairman explained that no person shall be considered a local government caretaker contrary to the judgement.
He further submitted that Dederi lacks the legal power to file the suit.
By the provisions of Section 287(1) of the Constitution, the Chairman highlighted that the decision of the Supreme Court is binding, acknowledging that the EFCC has the right to enforce it.
Musa consequently prayed the court to hear the application for contempt before taking up other applications to decide whether the Commission defied the court order or not.
As no objections were raised by the counsel involved in the case, the trial judge remitted the case file to the Kano Chief Judge for reassignment to another judge to handle the contempt proceedings.