A high court in Anambra has restrained the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from arresting Alex Ibezim, archbishop of the province of the Niger and bishop of the diocese of Awka, Anglican Communion.
Ibezim is accused of illegally selling church land and diverting the proceeds.
The petition against him also accused the cleric of “voracious wealth acquisition” and short-changing some of his allies, prompting the EFCC to open an investigation.
On Tuesday, F.I. Aniukwu, a vacation judge of the Anambra state high court, Awka judicial division, issued an interim injunction barring the anti-graft agency from arresting the archbishop.
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The order followed an ex parte motion filed by B.E.I. Nwofor, counsel to Ibezim, against the EFCC and Bonti Onuigbo, the second respondent in the case.
The motion sought “an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents by themselves and by their staff, servants, officers, workers, agents, or howsoever, from acting on or doing anything whatsoever, based on the second respondent’s letter dated 28th July.”
Granting the request, the court ruled: “The interim order is made to last till such a period that the parties would have fully exchanged processes in respect of the motion on notice No: A/1307M/2025 filed alongside the motion ex parte and the motion on notice heard or fixed for hearing by the regular court seized of the suit.”
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“Unless renewed, the order of interim injunction herein granted shall elapse 21 days from today,” the judge added.
