In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice M.S. Hassan on Thursday, the appellate court held that the EFCC has power to place any account (state governments' accounts inclusive) on PND for 72 hours, for the purpose of investigations without a court order.
The Court of Appeal, Makurdi Division, Benue State has overturned the judgment of a Federal High Court stopping the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) from placing the account of the Benue State Government on Post No Deposit (PND) for the purpose of investigations, without a court order.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice M.S. Hassan on Thursday, the appellate court held that the EFCC has power to place any account (state governments' accounts inclusive) on PND for 72 hours, for the purpose of investigations without a court order.
The court also set aside the award of N50 million in damages by the lower court against the EFCC.
Justice Mobolaji Olajuwon of a Federal High Court in Makurdi in 2019 asked the anti-graft agency to pay the Benue State Government N50 million in damages for freezing its accounts.
Justice Olajuwon said the accounts that were frozen did not fall within the “classes or categories of accounts” liable to be frozen by the EFCC.
He, therefore, declared the action of the EFCC as illegal, null and void, adding that the order issued by EFCC to the affected banks to freeze the state accounts was not earlier obtained from a federal high court.
The court also granted an order of perpetual injunction restraining EFCC from further freezing the state accounts domiciled in financial institutions.
The accounts were frozen after Governor Samuel Ortom defected from the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The state government had through the office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, approached the court challenging the legality of EFCC’s action.