EFCC Gets Supreme Court’s Nod to Probe Peter Odili’s Tenure

In
a
landmark
ruling
on Monday, March
10,
2025,
the
Supreme
Court
of
Nigeria
dismissed
appeals
filed
by
the
Attorney
General
of
Rivers
State
and
the
Speaker
of
the
State’s
House
of
Assembly
against the
leave
granted  the
Economic
and
Financial
Crimes
Commission, EFCC, by
the
Court
of
Appeal
to
contest an order of
perpetual
injunction of
Federal
High
Court,
Port
Harcourt that
barred
 the Commission
from
investigating
 Dr. Peter
Odili’s
tenure
as
governor of
the
state.

The
dismissal by
a
five-member
panel of
the
apex
court, led
by
Justice
John
Okoro effectively cleared the pathway
for
the Commission
to
investigate
Dr.
Odili’s
eight
year
rule
of
the
oil-rich
state and
brought
to
an
end EFCC’s long-standing
legal
battle
to
probe
the
administration.

The
legal
dispute
took
off
in
2007
when
Odili,
who
served
as
Rivers
State
governor
from
1999
to
2007,
obtained
an
order
of perpetual
injunction
from
the
Federal
High
Court,
sitting in
Port
Harcourt
barring
the
EFCC
from
investigating,
arresting,
or
prosecuting
Odili,
as
well
as
prohibiting
the
anti-graft
agency
from
examining
the
finances
of
the
Rivers
State
Government
during
his
tenure.
Though
the EFCC
has
contested
the injunction since
2008,
the
order
has effectively
shielded
Odili
from
any
scrutiny
by
the
Commission for
nearly
two
decades.

In
2018,
 the
Court
of
Appeal
granted
the
EFCC’s
request for
leave
to
appeal
the
Federal
High
Court’s
decision, which prompted
the
Attorney
General
of
Rivers
State
and
the
Speaker
of
the
State’s
House
of
Assembly
to
file
separate
appeals
at
the
Supreme
Court,
seeking
to
overturn
the
appellate
court’s
decision.

On
March
10,
2025,
the
Supreme
Court
convened
to
hear
the
appeal
filed
by
the litigants, marked
SC/CV/318/2018. 
During
the
proceedings,
Justice
Okoro
questioned
the
substance
of
the
case,
noting
that
the
appeal
was
interlocutory
in
nature.
The litigants’s
lawyer,
S.
A.
Somiari,
SAN,
argued
that
the
appeal
challenged
the
leave
granted
by
the
Court
of
Appeal
for
the
EFCC
to
appeal
the
2007
injunction.
Justice
Okoro,
however, interjected,
stating,
“This
is
not
the
type
of
appeal
we
hear
here,”
and
advised
the
parties
to
return
to
the
Court
of
Appeal
to
have
the
substantive
appeal
heard
before
approaching
the
Supreme
Court.

Recognizing
the
court’s
position,
Somiari
applied
to
withdraw
the
appeal
while
the
EFCC’s
legal
team,
led
by
Abubakar
Mahmud,
SAN,
alongside
Sylvanus
Tahir,
SAN,
and
B.
O.
Obialo
did
not
oppose
the
withdrawal.

Justice
Okoro
dismissed
the
appeal,
stating,
“The
appeal
is
dismissed,
having
been
withdrawn
without
any
objection.”

A
similar
appeal,
marked
SC/CV/447/2018,
filed
by
the
Speaker
of
the
House
of
Assembly
was
dismissed
on
the
same
ground.

---

Dele
Oyewale

Head,
Media
&
Publicity

March
11, 
2025

Credit: Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)