TheCable

A federal high court sitting in Lagos has restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and other security agencies from arresting Kingsley Kuku, former special adviser to President Goodluck Jonathan on Niger Delta, pending the determination of his appeal.

Kuku had approached the court following the ruling of Okon Abang, a justice, that the respondents can arrest, probe and prosecute him over alleged financial impropriety during his tenure.

He filed an appeal and a motion for stay of execution, supported with a 11-paragraph affidavit before the court.

Abang, who is currently sitting in the Abuja division of the court, was in Lagos on Monday based on the permission of the chief judge to deliver ruling on the application.

The court held that the application before it had nothing to do with the statutory right of the respondents.

He therefore ordered the parties to maintain the status quo pending the determination of the appeal filed by Kuku.

“Time cannot run against the state in arresting or prosecuting the applicant if truly he is culpable of the alleged offence,” he ruled.

“The respondents have nothing to lose if the status quo is maintained. So, all action concerning arrest, detention and prosecution of the applicant should hold on for now till the final determination of the appeal on the matter.”

In the earlier judgment, Abang, who declared that the anti-graft agency had right to arrest Kuku, warned the commission not to coerce or threaten anybody to give false statement against the applicant.

The court also held that if Kuku will be arrested, he should not be detained beyond 48 hours because that would contravene section 35(4) (5) of the 1999 constitution.

Kuku sued the attorney-general of the federation, EFCC, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC), the inspector-general of police (IGP), the Department of State Services and the Nigeria Immigration Service alleging “plots by the respondents to concoct, fabricate or falsify evidence in order to provide a basis for his arrest, detention, persecution and/or prosecution for political reasons.”

Ajibola Oluyede, Kuku’s lawyer, said the respondents were about to abuse the criminal process by seeking to arrest his client.

“There is an illegal and unjustifiable instigation of the criminal process against the applicant in a manner that infringes upon his fundamental rights as enshrined in Chapter 4 of the 1999 constitution,” he said.

According to him, it was “in furtherance of the unconscionable use of the otherwise laudable war against corruption to repress the political opposition constituted by the leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), including the applicant.”