Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of the Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a fundamental rights enforcement suit filed by Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.
The suit sought to prevent the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from arresting him after the expiration of his tenure.
The dismissal came after Sanwo-Olu’s counsel, Gbenga Femi Akande, moved a motion to discontinue the case.
Initially, Justice Abdulmalik had adjourned the matter on the 29th of October, setting 26th of November, for further mention.
This adjournment followed submissions by the EFCC’s counsel, Hadiza Afegbua, who argued that they were yet to receive the fresh originating summons served by Darlington Ozurumba, the lawyer who filed the case on behalf of the governor.
Although the matter was initially listed for 26th of November, it was absent from the court’s cause list for the day, and no counsel for the governor appeared in court.
It was later revealed that the case, identified as suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/773/2024, had already been struck out on 31st of October, after being withdrawn by Sanwo-Olu’s legal team.
Governor Sanwo-Olu had filed the suit through his lawyer, Ozurumba, naming the EFCC as the sole defendant.
He alleged threats of arrest, detention, and prosecution after his tenure. In the originating summons dated and filed on 6th of June, the governor raised seven legal questions and sought 11 reliefs, including an order restraining the EFCC from harassing, intimidating, arresting, detaining, or prosecuting him over activities linked to his tenure as governor.
However, the EFCC, in a counter-affidavit filed on the 31st of October, by its counsel, Afegbua, argued that the claims were speculative.
The anti-graft agency maintained that it had neither threatened nor taken any steps to infringe upon the governor’s rights to freedom of movement, personal liberty, or private and family life.