The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has filed an appeal against the judgment of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) High Court, which held the commission liable and awarded N10 million in damages for defaming former Minister of Power, Olu Agunloye. The anti-graft agency also applied for a stay of execution to halt the enforcement of the judgment pending the determination of its appeal.
EFCC files appeal on 11 grounds
According to a statement by EFCC’s Head of Media and Publicity, Dele Oyewale, on Sunday, the commission filed the notice of appeal on Friday at the Court of Appeal in Abuja. The appeal is based on 11 grounds and contains four prayers. “The orders the Commission is seeking in the appeal are orders allowing the appeal, setting aside the whole of the judgment, dismissing Agunloye’s claim before the trial court in its entirety and any other order the court may deem fit to make in the circumstances of the appeal,” the EFCC statement read.
Background of the defamation case
On 8 July, Premium Times reported that Justice Peter Kekemeke of the FCT High Court awarded N10 million against the EFCC for publishing a libelous article via its social media accounts about Mr Agunloye. The judge held that the post was unfair and used a “sensational headline” against the former minister. The judgment was delivered in a suit where Mr Agunloye sought N1 billion in damages against the anti-graft agency for the publication of an article titled “EFCC arraigns Agunloye over $6 billion fraud.”
EFCC lawyer vowed appeal
Shortly after the court delivered the verdict, the EFCC’s lawyer, Wahab Shittu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), vowed that the commission would appeal. “Though the court has delivered its judgement, we are definitely going to appeal the court’s decision,” Mr Shittu said.
Olu Agunloye’s background and charges
Mr Agunloye, the founding Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) from 1988 to 1994, served in former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s cabinet, first as Minister of Defence (Navy) from 2002 to 2003 and later as Minister of Power from 2003 to 2004. He is currently facing seven charges of official corruption related to the award of the Mambilla hydroelectric power contract to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited. The EFCC alleged that Mr Agunloye awarded a contract titled ‘Construction of 3,960mw Mambilla Hydroelectric Power Station on a Build, Operate and Transfer Basis’ to Sunrise Power and Transmission Company Limited without budgetary provision, approval, or cash backing.
Court ruling on defamation suit
However, in the separate defamation suit, Justice Kekemeke ruled that the details of the charges in Mr Agunloye’s ongoing trial at the Apo Division of the FCT High Court did not include fraud as stated in the EFCC’s libelous article. The judge ordered the EFCC to retract the post and apologize to Mr Agunloye on its website and in two national newspapers. As of the time of this report, no date has been fixed for the hearing of the EFCC’s appeal against the verdict.
